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THE LABOR MOVEMENT 
IN A 
GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


A Study of Employee Organization 


» an the Postal Service 
BY 
STERLING DENHARD SPERO, Pu. D. 
RESEARCH FELLOW IN THE NEW 2a FOR 
SOCIAL RESEARCH, NEW YOR 
j 


NEW BY vorK 


GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT, 1924, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 





THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


—<~C— 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


S THE CONDITION OF THIS VOLUME 
(OULD NOT PERMIT SEWING, IT WAS 


REATED WITH A STRONG, DURABLE 
\DHESIVE ESPECIALLY APPLIED TO 
SSURE HARD WEAR AND USE. 








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PREFACE 


The organization movement among public employees is 
a phase of the general labor movement which bids fair to 
give rise to issues of outstanding political importance in the 
near future. Such issues already have given sufficient na- 
tional prominence to a New England governor, little known 
beyond the confines of his state, to make possible his eleva- 
tion to the White House. 

In Europe and in some of the British Dominions public 
employee organization has reached a state of development 
far in advance of its stage in this country. Although the 
movement here can point to more than forty years of 
history it is still in its beginnings. This is due largely to 
two factors. First, the basis of civil employment is less 
stable in the United States than in most foreign lands, 
where the merit system has been in operation longer and 
where political patronage in the state services has been 
eliminated to a greater extent. Second, the American labor 
movement, as a whole, is a recent development as compared 
with its counterpart abroad, and the government employees’ 
movement here, as in most countries, progresses at some 
distance behind the march of other workers. If the distance 
between the two classes of workers is greater in this country 
than abroad the reason is to be found largely in the fact 
that government operation of industry is not as extensive 
here as elsewhere, and that as a result the number of civil 
servants is proportionately smaller and their work less like 
that of private industrial workers. 

The public, which abroad takes civil employee organiza- 
tion pretty much for granted, is inclined to be alarmed at 
it in this country. This is apiece with that not uncommon 
American attitude toward the labor movement which 
manifests itself in the endorsement of “American Plans” 
and “open shop” campaigns. The position of organized 
labor is firmly established in America, but it is still subject 
to hostile attack at its very foundations. Employers every- 
where are jealous of their power and would, if they could, 


vii 


6 
a . 
oF 

oh # 


vill PREFACE 


hamper and restrict the activities of their workers. The 
government not only shares this attitude but it is in a posi- 
tion to enforce its desires in this respect more effectively 
than other employers, for the state, even in democracies, 
still wears a royal crown set with the jewel of sovereignty. 

This book deals with the organization movement among 
a group of Ameriean public employees—those of the. postal 
service—who occupy a position between that of the private 
industrial worker and that of those groups, administrators, 
clerks, inspectors, etc., which are usually associated with 
the term “sovernment employee.” Though not generally 
thought of as such, the postal service is a “nationalized 
industry,” and the story of the labor movement among 
its workers may have as much light to throw upon the 
much discussed government labor problem to which the 
nationalization of certain industries in this country might 
give rise, as examples drawn from the experience of similar 
industries in other lands. 

But, even aside from this, the organized movement among 
postal workers is worthy of special study for it is here that 
public employee organization in the United States has had 
its beginnings and has reached its greatest development. 
Moreover, the postal establishment, itself, is one of the 
country’s basic industries. It is a public utility performing 
a service indispensible to the economic and social life of 
the community. It is the one branch of the federal govern- 
ment with which the people in every corner of the land 
come into constant and direct contact. It is the largest 
single employer of labor in this country, if not in the world. 
Its working force constitutes a majority of the entire 
personnel of the federal civil service. 

The organization of postal workers is part and parcel 
of the larger question of the organization of public em- 
ployees, and the writer has thus seen fit to project the 
special study upon the larger field of which it is a part. 
The first section of this work, comprising three chapters, 
has therefore been devoted to a_consideration of the char- 
acter and status.of public employee or anization in eneral. 
These chapters deal with matter which is highly con- 
troversial. They are not meant even to approximate a 
comprehensive statement of the subject. They are apse 


PREFACE ix 


only as the necessary background and setting to the 
chapters which follow. The writer is now engaged in a 
study surveying the whole field of public employee organ- 
ization, which he hopes to have ready in the early part 
of the coming year. 

The position concerning police strikes taken in the first 
chapter of the present book has given rise to considerable 
difference of opinion on the part of some who have been 
good enough to read the manuscript. One member of the 
Editorial Committee of the Workers Education Bureau of 
America, Professor John R. Commons, has requested that 
his dissent from the writer’s position on this matter be 
specifically noted. 

The material on which this study has been based has 
been derived from various organization publications and 
government documents, and from correspondence and in- 
terviews with government officials and former officials, with 
employees and former employees of the rank and file, and 
with present and past leaders of employee organizations. 
It has been deemed best, in view of the nature of the 
sources, not to attempt to include a separate bibliography 
at the end of the book. 

The writer has been advised not to mention the names 
of persons still in the service who have furnished him with 
material for this work. A few other persons, though no 
longer connected with the service, have also asked that 
. their names be withheld. The writer is pleased to acknowl- 
edge his indebtedness to the following organization leaders 
without whose help little could have been accomplished: 
Mr. Thomas F. Flaherty, secretary-treasurer, and Mr. Gil- 
bert E. Hyatt, former president of the National Federation 
of Post Office Clerks; Mr. E. J. Gainor, president, Mr. E. J. 
Cantwell, secretary, and Mr. M. T. Finnan, assistant secre- 
tary of the National Association of Letter Carriers; Mr. 
C. P. Franciscus, president of the United National Associa- 
tion of Post Office Clerks; Mr. Henry W. Strickland, in- 
dustrial secretary of the Railway Mail Association; Mr. 
W. D. Brown, editor of the R. F. D. News; Mr. Archie 
E. Luther, secretary-treasurer of District 44 (Government 
Employees), International Association of Machinists. 

Many of those whose names the writer is not at liberty 
to mention have been of greatest help in the preparation 


3 PREFACE 


of this book. He is happy, however, to be able to thank 
Mr. E. J. Ryan, former president of the Railway Mail 
Association, Mr. Edward G. Goltra, of Chicago, one of the 
founders of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, 
Mr. Otis J. Rogers of Washington, D. C., formerly editor 
of The Railway Mail, Mr. Harry W. Marsh, secretary of 
the National Civil Service Reform League, Dr. Ludwig 
Maier of Vienna, secretary of the Postal, Telegraph and 
Telephone International, and Mr. Henry 8S. Dennison, 
Director of Service Relations of the Post Office Department. 
He also wishes to express his indebtedness to his teachers 
Professors Howard Lee McBain, Henry R. Seager, and 
Lindsay Rogers of Columbia University, and to his friends 
Mr. Spencer Miller, Jr., Secretary of the Workers Educa- 
tion Bureau of America, Mr. Schuyler C. Wallace of Colum- 
bia University, and Professor Arthur W. Macmahon of the 
same institution. 
SDs: 


New York City. 


CONTENTS 


Part I: THE CHARACTER AND STATUS OF 
UNIONISM IN THE CIVIL SERVICE 


CHAPTER PAGE 
I CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM AND THE CLAIMS OF 

ERE REE DM GN ar da A A ates yoo KIN ey sie 

II CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM AND THE LAW. . . . 85 


III puBLIC EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATION AND THE LABOR 
Te ety he ERD Nia PN BAT oR a MOORE Ow Cap au: 5 


Part Il: ORGANIZATION AMONG POSTAL 
EMPLOYEES 


IV EARLY DAYS: WORKING CONDITIONS IN THE POST 
OFFICES BEFORE THE MERIT SYSTEM. .... 97 


VY THE RISE OF THE LETTER CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 62 


VI THE POSTAL CLERKS’ STRUGGLE AGAINST DEPART- 


POMERTAUOMINATION Js. hap cote rs a bo Pad wok) ter EO 

VII THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” ... . 96 
With) THE “GaG” BEGINS TO HURT ....... 118 
IX UNREST 1N THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE . .. 138 

X CLIMAX OF THE “‘ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN ... 151 


XI THE IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF THE LLOYD-LA FOL- 
esr air ae re ere i de CE 


XII THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM .... . 186 


xi 


Ger 


xii CONTENTS 


Part II: ORGANIZATION AMONG POSTAL 
EMPLOYEES (Continued) 
CHAPTER 
XIII BURLESON’S OPPOSITION TO EMPLOYEE ORGANI- 
| ZATION Ue eae ee, el eiaae Sue ee 208 


PAGD 


XIV THE ORGANIZATIONS TURN TO THE A. F. OF L. 229 
XV ‘“‘HUMANIZING”’ THE POSTAL INDUSTRY .. . 244 
XVI THE METHODS OF POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS .. 270 


XVII THE PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION AMONG 
POSTAL ‘ORGANIZATIONS... 6). See 280 


Part I: THE CHARACTER AND STATUS 
OF UNIONISM IN THE CIVIL SERVICE 


oe Ber: 


pe ee ae 


‘* 
vy ait ae) iW 





Part I: THE CHARACTER AND 
STATUS OF UNIONISM IN 
THE CIVIL SERVICE 


CHAPTER I 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM AND THE CLAIMS OF 
THE STATE 


THE STATE’S CLAIM TO SPECIAL RIGHTS 


Gradually the public authorities are coming to accept 
trade unionism among government employees. Yet within 
the civil service, as well as outside of it, the feeling lingers 
that those who earn their living in the service of the state 
owe their governmental employer a special obligation of 
loyalty and a peculiar duty of obedience different and dis- 
tinct from the obligations of ordinary wage-earners to their 
employers, which make it improper for them to agitate their 
grievances by methods generally approved for others. 

The belief is still strong in many quarters that public 
employees have no moral right to form organizations more 
active than fraternal associations or mutual benefit societies, 
and that any attempt on their part to combine for the pur- 
pose of exerting pressure upon the government to adjust 
their grievances or improve their lot is subversive of dis- 
cipline and dangerous to the state, while to carry such 
pressure to the point of striking would be an act of insubor-__ 
dination hardly short of treason. Yet civil servants have 
organized along trade union lines, and although they have 
rarely come to press their employers as other wage-earners 
do, they have by their alignment with the general labor 
movement thrown down a challenge to the assumption that 
they constitute a class apart from other workers. 

the view that-ervil employees, constitute _a special class 
is partially reflected-in-legal provisions fixing_their status 
and defining their rights. It finds its justification in the 


OO rer em eee ee I 9 


10 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


generally accepted theory of government. This theory, 
basically,.is that the state is sovereign and that any attempt 


the government, is a derogation of sovereignty which cannot 


| , to hamper_or interfere with the processes of its instrument, 


| be permitted! In this country the doctrine finds its general 


acceptance in somewhat modified form under which the 
government is still entitled to special rights and considera- 
tions, but not so much because of anything inherent in it 
as because it is felt that the functions which it performs 
are fundamentally necessary to the life of the community. 


VARIOUS FUNCTIONS OF CIVIL WORKERS 


Insofar as the work of the civil service is concerned, the 
activities of government fall generally into four classes. 
The first are administrative activities such as any concern 
or institution must carry on in order to keep its plant 
going and keep tab on itself. These activities include the 
issue and transmission of directions, accounting, auditing, 
correspondence, filing, etc. Insofar as this work itself is 
concerned, there is nothing about it peculiar to government 
service. It is work incidental to the conduct of any estab- 
lishment and its importance depends upon the character of 
the work to which it is incidental. The second group of 
governmental activities are what might be called public 
sexyice functions, such as the conduct of education, public 
institutions, public works, postal service, transportation, 
scientific investigation, the collection of data and statistics, 
etc. Such activities might be conducted by private enter- 
prise or by public authority and are often carried on 
by both at the same time. The third group of activities 
includes the state’s industrial-functions, the operation of 
plants which manufacture articles or supplies which the 
government uses in carrying on its work. Under this head 
would fall the shops of federal arsenals and navy yards, 
the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, public printing 
plants, the post office bag and lock shop, municipal asphalt 
plants, etc. There is no sharp line of demarcation to set off 
the state’s public service from its industrial functions. The 
two are in many respects overlapping. Yet they are differ- 
ent enough to warrant separate consideration. ‘The last 
group of public functions are the sovereign or governmental 
activities such as law enforcement, police, prisons, etc, This 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 11 


classification is not meant to be complete or final. It is 
merely a rough approximation intended solely as an aid to 
an examination of the work of civil employees and of the 
validity of the common assumptions which would deny 
them rights accorded to other workers. 


SIMILARITY OF GOVERNMENTAL AND PRIVATE UNDERTAKINGS 


t will be seen from the foregoing outline that but a 
limited proportion of civil employees are engaged in activi- 
ties.which are sovereign or governmental in character and 
that the work Of the great majority of them differs in no 
essential respect, either in-regard to its public purpose or 

ities the work of émployees in private enterprise.» 


he government in~the~ carrying on of its public service’, 


functions does not serve the community to any greater 
extent than do those private enterprises and institutions 
which carry on similar functions. There. can be no logic 
in denying full industrial rights to employees of the one 
and according them to those of the other. Nor does the one 
outstanding difference between public and private enter- 
prise, the absence of profit in the former, affect the rights 
of civil employees and make it improper for them to deal 
with their employers as other wage-earners do. There are 
private institutions which operate solely for service and 
with no thought of profit. Certainly no endowed university 
could on those grounds prevent its janitors and scrub- 
women from organizing to agitate their grievances. ‘In 
many instances the public.service performed by private 
enterprise is far more important than that performed by 
_ government:+A.strike-of-privately~employed milk drivers 
in avtafee city would no doubt cause more inconvenience 
than a strike of municipal park attendants, while a strike 
on a city’s municipally operated water works would hardly 
do more harm than a strike on a city’s privately operated 
water works. The assumption of a service by the public 
authorities does not transform its character so as to make 
what was permissible priog to government operation an act 
akin to treason under it. “)¥ 
This is no less true of services which are government 
monopolies than of those in which the government merely; 
supplements or competes with private enterprise. But it is 
in these monopoly services that the notions of the inherently 


12 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


different, especially sacred and peculiarly “public,” nature 
of civil employment have been most strongly emphasized. 
The officials of these public business enterprises have a 
tendency to look upon them as though they were sovereign 
functions. Of this the postal service is an outstandingly 
good example. It is generally looked upon as a public 
monopoly. The fact that it has been accorded special rights 
not possessed by most other public services and that it has 
been protected by special laws and regulations which set it 
legally in a class by itself has made it seem somehow 
inherently different from other utilities which perform 
equally important services. That it has always been a goy- 
ernment function in this country has, of course, strength- 
ened the notion of its distinct and peculiar character. Yet 
an examination of postal functions will show such notions 
to be unfounded. The post office is a legal monopoly in but 
one of its three service activities, the handling of the ordi- 
nary mails. Its financial functions compete directly with 
private institutions and enterprises, its savings department 
with savings banks, its money order and draft business with 
banks, trust and express companies. In a like manner the 
parcel post also competes with private carriers. Even the 
handling of the ordinary mail is a service analogous to the 
telegraph and telephones, which in most countries form an 
integral part of the postal system, but in the United States 
are operated by private corporations.? 


DEPENDENCE OF GOVERNMENT UPON PRIVATE INDUSTRY 


‘But even if it be granted that government.services are so 
important that-nothing must..be allowed to obstruct their 
continuous operation or interfere with their conduct, there 
is no logic in limiting the rights of government..employees 
where.other workers are free,} It would indeed be hard to 
find a single publi¢ séfvice that is not in some way depen- 
dent upon private enterprise. A municipal plant for the 
manufacture of gas is dependent upon the private coal in- 
dustry. The postal service is dependent absolutely upon 
private railroads. Even the Bureau of Engraving and 


1 Hearings: House Committee on Reform in the Civil Service (62nd Congress, 
Ist and 2nd Sessions). Removal of Employees in Classified Civil Service, p. 48. 

2There is a strong movement afoot in Europe to denationalize the postal, tele- 
graph, and telephone services. See Internationale P.T.T. (English edition), July, 
1922, pp. 45-90. In Italy the Cabinet has considered divesting the state of all 
non-self-sustaining activities, including the posts. 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 13 


Printing, which alone has the right to print money and 
federal government securities, guards its issues against 
counterfeiting through the use of a special paper manu- 
factured in private plants. 

The reasons urged in support of the curtailment of the 
rights of civil servants in public service undertakings have 
even less weight when applied to employees in governmental 
industrial establishments. The authorities themselves con- 
cede some difference between these employees, artisans, 
craftsmen, and laborers who happen to be in government 
service, and other public employees. They have not as a 
rule opposed the right of these workers to join the regular 
unions of their calling;* and while their right to strike is 
generally denied, the denial is perhaps somewhat less em- 
phatie and vigorous than in other cases. The principal 
reason for this is, no doubt, that but a small part of the 
government’s supplies are made in its own plants. In case 
of labor troubles the work could easily be contracted out to 
private concerns as most of it is now. While it is true that 
the stoppage of work in such an establishment as the Gov- 
ernment Printing Office at Washington* might cause the 
authorities serious inconvenience for a time, a strike in most 
government plants would make comparatively little differ- 
ence either to the authorities or the public. Moreover, such 
a strike could undoubtedly be broken in comparatively short 
order with the whole labor market of artisans and crafts- 
men from which to draw. On the other hand, a strike of 
postal employees—of railway mail clerks, for example— 
would cripple the postal service and could only with great 
difficulty be broken with the help of labor from the outside. 


THE PRIMARY FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT AND THE BASIC 
INDUSTRIES 


It is not strange that those civil servants who are engaged 
in carrying on purely governmental functions should find 
their rights and privileges most heavily restricted. It is in 
this field that the state has been able to urge its claim to 
, Special consideration with the highest degree of plausibility. 
The primary functions of government, it is said, are in a 
“class by themselveés,-and are comparable ton no o other activi- 


SSee hearings cited, p. 48.000 ee 
‘Up to 1861 what is now the Government Printing Office w. was T run by a private 
company, 


14. UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


ties. But admitting.this uniqueness, it still seems—hardly 
logical to deny public inspectors or policemen the-right to 
organize and strike on the grounds that, such action on their 


_.-spart might..interrupt the sovereign processes, when em- 


ployees of basic privately owned industries such as trans- 
‘portation or telephones | and telegraphs are permitted to use 
their industrial power, The stoppage..of-these~sérvices 
would cripple government today as quickly..as-the stoppage 
of police service. It could force. the authorities to terms 
in.as short Order, and it would,.very likely, hurt the com- 


; munity far more. 


te ne fact of its uniqueness entitles. moment power 

to no extraordinary privileges..% The-so-ealled-primary-func- 
tions of the state have no inherent qualities.which entitle 
them to special considerations. “They..have no, justification 
beyond their service to the community. ‘The importance 
of the-politéman’s*Work is not to be denied, but it is at 
least doubtful if it is always more vital to complex present- 
day society than the work of the railwayman. A large- 
scale railway walkout would leave the community at the 
mercy of the striking force, for workers of required skill 
and training could not be recruited in adequate numbers 
to check or break such a strike. A strike of police would 
not necessarily leave the community undefended and at the 
mercy of mobs and criminals. The work of the strikers 
could be carried on for the time being by armed citizens 
and by troops. Undoubtedly it would not be done as effi- 
ciently as by a trained corps of patrolmen, but it could 
nevertheless be done.¥In this connection it might be noted 
that Boston was policed in this fashion for several weeks 
after its striking patrolmen had been dismissed from the 
service. « 

There has been a good deal of agitation in recent years 
to limit the right to strike not only in the case of govern- 
ment employees, but also in the case of private employees 
in basic industries and public utilities. However, workers 
in these pursuits recognize no restrictions on their industrial 
rights. Their recourse to the strike is by no means infre- 
quent and their use of the weapon has never aroused any- 
thing like the opposition which far less drastic steps have 
when taken by civil servants. Furthermore, no attempt is 
made to prevent these workers from joining such organiza- 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 15 


tions as they choose or affiliating with such movements as 
they see fit. No one contends that their association with 
their fellow workers in other pursuits impairs their ability 
to carry on services vitally important to the whole com- 
munity. 


LABOR AFFILIATION AND DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE 


The right of government employees in this regard is, on 
the other hand, seriously questioned. \The argument_runs 
that civil servants are the agents through. whori-the govern- 
ment functions; that the.governmént i is the servant of all the 
people without Fegard to group or ¢lass"andtherefore public 
employees must Yémain unafhliatéd'with any group or class 
so that they may be above all’ Suspicion Of partiality in the 
performance of their duties.® . It is urged further that. public 
servants owe their~sole- -aleviance.to, the state and must 
join no organization likely. “to divide.that allegiance or 
bring them into conflict with the government. It is, there- 
fore, held improper for them” to” ‘affiliate with the official 
labor movement, i.e., the American Federation of Labor, 
since such affiliation ‘might be likely to lead them to take 
positions on public questions contrary to those taken by 
the government. It was pointed out in the United States 
Senate during the discussion of a measure to forbid the 
affiliation of federal employees with “outside labor organi- 
zations,” that the American Federation of Labor had taken 
stands opposed to the government during the steel and coal 
strikes of 1919 and that public employees through their 
association with that body were thus put in a position 
of “opposition to the government.”® This argument carried 
to its logieal conclusion would not merely restrict govern- 
ment employees in their expression of views on economic 
questions, but it would preclude their affiliation with any 
organization or group, social, fraternal, and religious, for 
such groups might well differ with the government and thus 
divide the allegiance of their public employee members and 
bring their impartiality into question. 

The assertion that government is an impartial agency 
acting in behalf of the general welfare results from the con- 
fusion of the ideal of government with its operation in 


5 See Report of Industrial Conference called by the President (dated March 
6, 61920), pp. 41-44. 
® Congressional Record (66th Congress, 2nd Session), p. 5131ff., especially p. 5133. 


16 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


practice. There is a large section of the wage-earning 
population which looks upon government as the agent of 
the dominant group in society, which in its efforts to main- 
tain “law and order” uses “law” as an instrument to 
maintain the status quo and interprets “order” to mean the 
existing order. In support of their attitude these wage- 
earners point to the record of government in recent labor 
controversies, and especially to the records of the West 
Virginia and Pennsylvania authorities during the recent 
coal and steel strikes. They believe that the affiliation of 
public servants with the labor movement would tend to 
overcome what they feel to be the existing balance against 
the wage worker, and that the partiality which the class 
prejudices of the higher officials so often direct in favor of 
the owners of property would be in a measure offset by the 
bond of union between the wage-earning laborer or artisan 
and the wage-earning policeman. In other words, many 
wage workers believe that the affiliation of law enforcement 
employees with the organized labor movement would tend 
to strengthen the administration of justice by opening the 
eyes of those employees to the labor side of the controversy. 

The attitude of those who see public danger and a deroga- 
tion of sovereignty if public employees affiliate with the 
official labor movement was expressed thus by Senator 
Myers of Montana in April, 1920, in the course of a speech 
in the United States Senate, urging the passage of a measure 
- forbidding federal employees to affiliate with the American 
Federation of Labor: 


_ “T claim that employees who work for the Federal 
- Government are analogous to soldiers in the army. 
_ They should owe their entire allegiance and loyalty 
and affiliation to the Government for which they work. 
They should not enter into any movement of affiliation 
or association which might put them in an attitude of 
antagonism to the Government for which they work, 
because the general welfare is at stake, the welfare of 
the entire body politic, of the entire people, of the Gov- 
ernment itself is at stake, and I do not believe that 
any Federal employee should be permitted, innocently 
or otherwise, to join any association or affiliation which 
might by any chance lead him, in association with 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 17 


others, to take a position or a stand which might be 
antagonistic to the true interests of the government 
which employs him, feeds him, and upon which we are 
all dependent for our peace, tranquillity, and wel- 
fare.) 


THE PATRIOTIC ISSUE: THE SOLDIER ANALOGY 


Nothing has so confused the question of the state’s rela- 
tion to its servants as this injection of patriotic issues. 
Persons who agree with the view set forth by Senator 
Myers, that the status of those who accept employment 
at the hands of the state is analogous to that of soldiers, 
are prompted partly by the horror of the thought of any- 
thing even remotely resembling an attack on government, 
which they have come to identify completely with country, 
and partly by the thought of the inconvenience which the 
exercise of industrial rights by civil servants might entail. 
This attitude was set forth most completely by President. 
Butler of Columbia University at the time of the great 
postal strike in France: 


“In my judgment the fundamental principle at issue 
is perfectly clear. Servants of the State in any capac- 
ity—military, naval or civil—are in our Government 
there by their own choice and not of necessity. Their 
sole obligation is to the State and its interests. There 
is no analogy between a servant or employee of the 
State and the State itself on the one hand, and the 
laborer and private or corporate capitalist on the other, 
The tendency of public-service officials to organize for 
their own mutual benefit and improvement is well 
enough, so far as it goes. The element of danger 
enters when these organizations ally or affiliate them- 
selves with labor unions, begin to use labor union 
methods and take the attitude of labor unions towards 
capital in their own attitude towards the State. In 
my judgment loyalty and treason ought to mean the 
same thing in the civil service that they do in the 
military or naval services. The door to get out is 
always open if one does not wish to serve the public 
on those terms. Indeed, I am not sure that as civili- 

* Congressional Record (66th Congress, 2nd Session), p. 5132. 


f 
‘ 


i 
i 


f 
i 


18 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


zation progresses, loyalty and treason in the civil ser- 
vices will not become more important than loyalty and 
treason in the military and naval services. The happi- 
ness of the community might be more easily wrecked 
by the paralysis of its postal and telegraph services, 
for example, than by a mutiny on shipboard. 


“Just as soon_as any human being puts the interest 
ofa group or class to which he belongs or conceives 
himself to belong, above.the intérest of the State as a 
whole, at that moment he makes it impossible for him- 
self to be a good citizen; It seems tome . . . that 
a servant of the entire°eommunity can not be permitted 
to affiliate or ally himself with the class interest of 
part of the community. . . . 

“Tt may be that the exact line between a mutual 
benefit organization and a trade union is not easy to 
draw, but I think it must be drawn and insisted upon 
so far as government employees are concerned. .. . 

“To me the situation which this problem presents is, 
beyond comparison, the most serious which modern 
democracies have to face. It will become more in- 
sistent and more difficult as Government activities 
multiply and as the number of civil-service employees 
increases. Now is the time to settle the question on 
right principles once and for all.’ 


Those who hold this point of view make no attempt to 
draw distinctions between state servants and state servants 
on the basis of the kind of work they do. Thus The Out- 
look, of whose editorial staff Theodore Roosevelt was a 
member, could see little distinction between soldiers and 
municipal street cleaners. In many American cities the 
work of removing garbage and refuse is done by private 
companies. But in New York City this work is done by a 
city department. In November, 1911, the employees of this 
department struck. The Outlook, in an editorial called 
“Mutiny,” discussed this strike as follows:° 


“Men who are employed by the public cannot strike. 
They..can and sometimes they do mutiny. When they 


8 New York Sun, May 18, 1909. 
® The Outlook, Nov. 25, 1911, pp. 703-4. 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 19 


do mutiny they should be treated not as strikers but 
as mutineers. 

“This issue was presented by the refusal of the men 
to do what they were ordered to do. When soldiers do 
that in warfare they are given short shrift. Of course, 
in combating accumulating dirt and its potent ally dis- 
ease, an army of street cleaners is not face to face with 
any such acute public dangers as those confronting a 
military force; and, therefore, insubordination among 
street cleaners does not call for any such severity as 
that which is absolutely necessary in war times; but 
the principle in one case is the same as that in the other 
—those who disrupt the forces of public defense range 
themselves on the side of the public enemy. They are 
not in any respect on the same basis as the employees 
of a private employer. They are wage earners only in 
the sense that soldiers are wage earners. The public 
employee . . . is performing a public function and 
when once he enters upon that duty he must be ready 
like the soldier, to do whatever the public need requires 
of him. And it does not rest with him to determine 
what the public need is. That rests with those who 
have been put in office by the people.” 


Even The Survey, when the journal of the Charity Organ- 
ization Society, spoke of this same strike as the “Desertion 
of the Street Cleaners,” said: 


“For the army of street cleaners to throw up their 
jobs simultaneously in order to enforce their demands 
should be regarded not as a strike but as desertion, 
and desertion on the field of battle in the face of the 
enemy.’’!° 


The soldier analogy would, of course, furnish the state 
with an effective weapon with which to force the continuous 
operation of the government services. The grounds on 
which it is based are quite as open to question as are those 
other reasons advanced to justify placing government work- 
ers in a class by themselves. The military and the civil 
servant have but one thing in common, their employment 
by the government. There the analogy ends. The soldier, 
whether a conscript or a volunteer, is completely at the 
government’s disposal. He can be required to perform any 

® The Survey, Nov. 18, 1911, p. 1193. 


20 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


kind of service, no matter how hazardous, without demur 
or question, even at the risk of life or limb. The special 
code of law by which he is governed is so drastic that few 
would attempt to justify it outside of its very limited field 
and on the grounds of the extreme necessities of military 
activity. The armed forces are essentially emergency in- 
struments and when the emergency is sufficiently great the 
state can exercise ats sovereign powers and draft citizens 
into their ranks. The civil-service,;-on the other hand, is 
essentially a peace instrument, which: the“government re- 
cruits in the general labor market in competition with other 
employers and subject to the same.so-called..“laws”.of.the 
economic system_as they are. Those who seek employment 
at the government’s hands are for the most part moved by 
economic considerations. They accept the work offered in 
order to earn their living. They take government places 
rather than private positions because they find them more 
attractive or because they can get no better. Questions of 
patriotism do not enter into the reckoning. The element of 
public power does not come into play. 


THE STATE AS SOVEREIGN AND AS EMPLOYER 


There is a real distinction between the government as the 
instrument of public authority and the government as em- 
ployer of its civil servants. Public authority is exercised 
over the citizen body. Civil employees in their capacity 
as citizens are as subject to it as others are. They owe the 
government those loyalties and allegiances which all citi- 
zens owe it. They may be called upon to defend it from 
its enemies; they may be punished for breaking the public 
peace. As civil servants, on the other hand, they are hired 
to do specific kinds of work. The authority which their 
supervisors exercise over them is administrative or profes- 
sional and is limited to the conduct of their work. 

Although they still manage to continue their absolute 
authority, public officials have already taken long steps 
towards recognizing a contractual relation in public em- 
ployment.1?| In this country the officials of the railway 


U The relationship is not legally contractual for conditions of public employment 
are regulated ultimately by law. It is exceedingly unlikely that a court would 
old an agreement between the authorities and their employees binding. An 
employee whose place is abolished by law has no redress through action for 
damages. On these points see Stover, George H.: Legal Rights of Civil Servants 
in the City of New York (Bureau of Municipal Research No. 66: 1915), pp. 7-9. 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 21 


mail service have entered into signed agreements with their 
subordinates, which the assistant postmaster general in 
charge accepts in the form of “recommendations.’?* In the 
same way the President’s Second Industrial Conference 
declared: 


“Findings of any adjustment machinery in the case 
of public employees must necessarily have the force 
merely of recommendations to the government agency 
having power to fix wages, hours, and working con- 
ditions of the employees concerned. As a matter of 
principle, government is not in a position to permit its 
relations with its employees to be fixed by arbitra- 
tion.’’?% 


On the other hand, the British postmaster general con- 
sented to arbitrate a wage dispute with his employees in 
1915 ;** while a strike on the Swedish government railways 
in 1910 resulted in the authorities and the employees’ rep- 
resentatives actually signing a contract to regulate wages 
and prevent strikes for a number of years.1® 


EXECUTIVE RESPONSIBILITY AND EMPLOYEE ACTIVITY 


It is in the name of patriotism, sovereignty, and all the 
other shibboleths of the state that public officials ultimately 
stake their claim to absolute authority over their employees. 
But even with these considerations left out there are still 
persons in and out of office who insist that, in the interest 
of good administration and responsible government, em- 
ployee organizations shall be free to function only under 
the careful supervision of the administrative chiefs. This 
attitude was well set forth by Second Assistant Postmaster 
General Joseph Stewart in 1912, and his statement will still 
serve as an accurate expression of the point of view of the 
average government official: 


“The executive branch is responsible for the conduct 
of the service under the laws and conditions as they 
may exist. The regular, proper, and orderly procedure 


12 Below, 
18 * Report Heer Tanta Conference called by the President (dated March 6, 1920), 
4 


14 New Statesman, May 1, 1915, p. 75. See also Postman’s Gazette (Great 
Britain), May 15, 1915, pp. 198-9. 


1% Harley, J. H.: The New Social Democracy (London: P. S. King, 1911), p. 123. 


22 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


with respect to recommendations emanating from the 
executive branch concerning the service is that they 
should be suggested by the officers in charge of the 
service and transmitted to Congress by the executive 
or by the head of a department. Assistant secretaries 
and officers in charge of bureaus customarily appear 
before congressional committees, explain estimates and 
recommendations, but this action is always in entire 
accord and harmony with the wishes of the head of the 
department. 

“The necessary corollary to this proposition is that 
Federal employes who are not charged with the direct 
responsibility for the service should volunteer repre- 
sentations or statements to Congress only through the 
head of their department, and this applies to organiza- 
tions of Federal employes as well as to the employes 
individually.’’® 


Officials are naturally loath to surrender any of their 
authority over their subordinates. Under the prevailing 
system of administration they are responsible for good 
conduct of their units, and their attitude towards organized 
employee activity is not unlike that of the private employer 
who insists on running his business in his own way without 
the “interference of organized labor.” There is, however, 
a complicating factor in the public service. Supervisory 
officials, being officers of the government, assume that they 
are clothed with general public authority and make little 
attempt to distinguish between questions which are purely 
technical and questions which are trulv matters of public 
policy. Civil servants abroad, especially in France, make 
a clear and sharp distinction between the non-political 
professional and technical work of administration in which 
the employees of the rank and file and their supervisors are 
engaged and the political work of the determination and 
control of public policy in which the executive of the state 

_is engaged.*’ 

F “W’stewart, Joseph: ‘How Can Government Employes Secure Redress of 

. stn red Without Striking?” National Civic Federation: Proceedings, 1912, 

we Prtarcy, Maxime: Syndicats et Services Publics (1909), p. 269. See also 
Internationale P.T.T. (English edition), December, 1922, pp. 147-8. The French 
delegate to the International Postal Congress at Berlin in 1922 opposed having 
the German Postmaster General receive the delegates and deliver an address on 


the grounds that “the man at the head of the postal and telegraph service was 
not a professional but a politician.’ 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 23 


The civil service reform movement in a measure recog- 
nized this distinction made by the French when it sought 
to remove technical and routine jobs from political control. 
The function of the executive is to take the leadership in 
determination of public policy and then in a general way 
to supervise its execution. The presence of employee organ- 
izations seeking better working conditions and a voice in 
their control no more interferes with the proper responsi- 
bility of the executive than the provisions of the merit 
system. 

Of. course the line of demarcation is by no means clear 
and sharp. The executive’s financial functions give him a 
dominating position in administrative affairs. The pro- 
ponents of the executive budget hold that the executive is 
conversant with the needs of administration and that the 
functions of the legislature should be confined merely to 
striking out or reducing estimates and not to increasing 
them. In the light of this theory so eminent a student of 
politics as Professor Henry Jones Ford upheld the right 
of the President to forbid federal employees from appealing 
to Congress or even from answering Congressional requests 
for information without the consent of the heads of their 
departments.** (For the employees.to.be constantly..appeal- 
ing to Congress overthe“heads of their departments may. _ 
not be_ittmaccord” with sound principles..of. admiistration. ~ 
The remedy for thé“situation lies in the establishment of 
a personnel system with..adequate-machinery...for making 
employee demands heard. / But, every suggested system of 


ARTISTE Hp 6 « 


this kind presupposes..greater.latitude to the.rank and file, 
and thus, a limitation on official authority. Should such 
machinery fail to function effectively, it is hard to see how 
deference to some principle of efficiency could fairly be 
held to keep the workers from exercising their rights as 
citizens and appealing to Congress in regard to matters 
of vital concern to them. _A discontented working staff 
would break down..the..efficiency...of.the-service far more 
quickly than_the violation.of.all the preconceived “proper 
principles of administration.” /Of course it is the duty of 
the executive as the chosen guardian of the-public interest 
to formulate his own program affecting. the civil-service 


and to oppose those employee recommendations. with which 


we 
SOME em 


% The Cost of Our National Government (1910), pp. 115-116. 


ae 


24 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


he-disagrees. To do this, however, it is not necessary to 


abridge the rights of civil employees’as citizens. After all, 
the fact that practically..all’ matters affecting the civil 
service must have the direct or indirect sanction of the 
legislature is ample guarantee that the public interest will 
not be aera over rlookeds 


THE STRIKE QUESTION IN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC SERVICE 


In opposing the organization of their employees the 
public authorities, by appeals to sentiment, can arouse 
public opinion behind them far more effectively than private 
employers can. They have always placed heavy stress 
upon the possibility of the government’s work being inter- 
rupted by a strike. Thus far, however, the strike issue has 
not been a serious one in the American civil service. In 
the federal and state services it 1s hardly more than an 
academic question. And though it has been a matter of 
more practical moment in the municipal services, it has not 
yet become a “‘burning issue” even there. Public employees, 
especially federal employees, have always manifested an 
exceedingly submissive, if not a docile, temper. Current 
ideas and opinions as to their obligations to the government 
have influenced large numbers of them, so that it is doubtful 
if any attempted strike could at present muster anything 
like unanimous support. Besides, there are not many ser- 
vices in which a strike could really force the government to 
terms. Its doubtful effect in the public industrial estab- 
lishments has already been pointed out., In the clerical and 
administrative..branches it would be an-even less potent 
weapon, although in a service like the.post..office it could 
bring the authorities to“terms in a short time, Yet the 
employees’ reluctance to antagonize the community and 
the legislative and executive authorities through the em- 
ployment of extreme methods, as well as doubt as to their 
legal rights and consequent fear of the law, have rendered 
the strike a practically unused weapon in the American 
government services. . Moreover, the very nature of their 
employment arms public workers with the alternative 
weapon of political action. — 


THE POSSIBILITY OF REDRESS THROUGH POLITICAL ACTION 


Their citizenship in the body politic makes public em- 
ployees in a measure their.own.employers, and their pos- 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 25 


session of the suffrage enables them to wield some influence 
over the determination of-theirworking conditions, Yet, 
aside from a few large cities;thiS influence is comparatively 
slight, while in practice the civil servant’s relation to the 
community as his employer is rather remote. For all prac- 
tical purposes the employer is the head of the department, 
but his authority in most important matters is limited by 
rules laid down by the legislature. In other words, the 
administration is the boss, but a boss who can be overruled 
by another authority. Thus the employees can go over 
the heads of the departments under which they work to the 
legislature, and, if they can exert sufficient political pressure 
over that body, they can secure the adjustment of their 
grievances. Of course, the method is not always satisfac- 
tory. It is sometimes slow and often cumbersome. Regu- 
lation by law makes conditions of work rigid and inflexible. 
Matters affecting the civil service are but a small part of 
the total concerns of government and are likely to be lost 
sight of in a maze of more dramatic or pressing matters. 


THE DEPENDENCE OF THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UPON LEGISLATIVE 
ACTION 


“The outstanding characteristic-of..public- employment as 


contrasted with private emproyment is the fact that condi- 


tions of work are fixed by law father than by negotiation 
between employer and émployée.) Except in” the~case of 
common labor and the skilled crafts whose wages are com- 
monly fixed at the “prevailing rate” in the locality, which 
usually means the prevailing union rate,® the wages of 
public employees are fixed by statute or local ordinance. 
Besides pay, practically all other matters affecting civil 
service working Conditions are fixed by law and all matters 
can be altered by law. ‘This makes public service unions 
largely dependent upon legislative lobbying and.other modes ~ 
of political action.y Yet civilemployees, dependent as they © 
are hon the action of political bodies, are limited in their 
freedom of political activity. They thus find themselves 
at a great disadvantage over workers in private industry. 
This is especially true of federal employees whose rights 

22 Commons, J. R., and Andrews, J. B.: Principles of Labor Legislation (1920), 
p. 196. The wages of printers, pressmen, and bookbinders in the U. 8S. Government 


Printing Office are fixed by law, as are the wages of plate printers and some other 
skilled craftsmen in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 


26 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


are most restricted. The necessity of dealing with legisla- 
tures, as already pointed out, would be a decided disadvan- 
tage even if the workers were allowed full freedom of action, 
for these bodies are busy with a host of other matters and 
can devote but a small portion of their time to employment 
affairs. Moreover, the average American legislator has little 
sympathy for the merit system in the civil service. To his 
mind the free dispensation of public jobs as rewards for 
party service is necessary to the life of the party organiza- 
tion. The permanent civil service stands in the way of 
this, and it is therefore difficult to interest the politician in 
the legislature in its needs and problems. Yet when groups 
of workers are concerned who are capable of exercising 
influence upon the electorate, like some classes of postal 
employees, the legislature’s lack of interest is likely to 
disappear. 


THE POLITICAL DANGER OF EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS 


It is on the score of their political activities and possi- 
bilities that conservative civil service reformers have raised 
objection to employee organizations, especially organiza- 
tions associated with the general trade union movement 
and having its political support. Until but a short time ago 
all the efforts of the civil service reform movement had 
been directed towards the elimination of patronage and 
political influence in civil service appointments and pro- 
motions. In their efforts to keep politicians and political 
influences from using the service for their own ends the 
reformers have secured the passage of laws and the pro- 
mulgation of regulations to protect the employees against 
the levy of political assessments and to prohibit them from 
taking an open and active part in political affairs. They 
fear that employee organization may force civil servants 
into improper and perhaps illegal political activity, that 
it may subordinate the legitimate needs and interests of 
administration to the ends of politics and the selfish class 
interests of the personnel, and that it may prove to be a 
dangerously corrupting influence in public life. 

None of these fears is beyond the bounds of possibility, 
but the organization of the workers along trade union lines 
makes political trafficking less likely than organization in 
independent units. Independent groups must depend largely 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 27 


upon the good will and friendship of the authorities for 
their successful functioning. They make “harmony and 
cooperation with the department” their cardinal policy and 
their official “stand in” a thing to be maintained at all 
costs. The pursuit of such policy results inevitably in the 
association falling under the domination of the department. 
It is not strange that the authorities raise little objection 
to such organizations and that they generally favor them as 
against groups constituted along trade union lines. Through 
them, on the one hand, they are able to control the pres- 
entation of the personnel’s grievances and to prevent the 
publication of information detrimental to themselves, and 
on the other, to enhance their political prestige. The recog- 
nition of official friends in Congress and in the executive 
through the passage of laudatory resolutions, expressions 
of confidence, and the lavishment of praise are part of the 
mechanics of maintaining a “stand in.” Such laudations, 
praises and assurances of confidence add just that much to 
the political prestige of the officials concerned. But the 
enhancement of political prestige is not always one-sided. 
There have been not a few instances of organization offi- 
cials whose efforts have been rewarded by assignment to 
desirable places or promotion to supervisory posts. Many 
promotions of organization officers have unquestionably 
been made in good faith because the officials had come 
into contact with them and had learned to appreciate their 
abilities. It is not easy to determine when promotions have 
been so made or when they have merely been rewards for 
services rendered in keeping the rank and file in hand, for 
the charges concerning them usually come from the enemies 
of the persons affected. 


IS THE USE OF GROUP POLITICAL POWER “SELFISH’’? 


Public employee unions depend not. upon_official good 
will but upon thepolitical.and-economic power of the organ- 
ized labor movement. The political authorities’ hostility 
toward them isin a measure an indication of the absence 
of objectionable civil service politics. Honest organization, 
whether officially “union” or not, stands for the improved 
lot of the group as a whole and tends to eliminate the play 
of individual politics for the correction of individual griev- 
ances and for personal advancement in the service. As 


28 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


regards the objection that it is selfish for an organization 
to use its political power as a group to advance the ends 
of those whom it represents, it is hardly necessary to point 
out that almost all great reforms have been effected through 
the organization of the special group or class interests imme- 
diately affected. 

There have indeed been instances of group selfishness and 
of corruption on the part of civil service associations. The 
instances have been primarily in the field of municipal 
government. But political corruption has long been a com- 
mon phenomenon in American public life, especially in the 
large cities. Public employee organizations are in no wise 
peculiar in this regard. Not long ago there was rather wide- 
spread sentiment in Great Britain for the disfranchisement 
of municipal workers as a guarantee against their corrupting 
influence in local political life.2° However, this remedy is 
no longer seriously urged. It has never been suggested as 
a solution in this country. 


THE “DOCKYARD MEMBERS” IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT 


The possibility of enfranchised civil servants using their 
organized political power over members of Parliament in 
order “‘illegitimately to increase the remuneration they 
received for their services” was pointed out by Disraeli as 
long ago as 1867.71, A year later Gladstone pointed out 
that an enfranchised and organized civil service might 
become a constant annoyance to Parliament and bring’ 
dangerous class influences into the politics of the country.” 
The political power of British state servants has made itself 
felt with especial strength in boroughs where the govern- 
ment maintains dockyards, construction and repair shops 
for military and naval implements. The members from 
such boroughs have been proverbially active in behalf of 
the employees of the plants, with little regard, it is said, 
to the state of the national finances, public policy or wel- 
fare, or to party loyalty, so that the name “dockyard 
member” has become a sort of byword in Parliamentary and 
political circles.** 

20 See Commons, J. R.: water: and beibabndr nhc a pp. 173-4. 
21 Hansard, 3rd_ Series, 187, pp. 1033-4 (July 4, 1867 
22 Same, Vol. 193, p. 397 one 30, 1868). Celene these debates see also Meyer, 


Hugo R.: The British State Telegraphs, GhY VI; 94-8. 
23 See Lowell, A. L.: The Government of Maglene "(1916 edition), Vol. 1, p. 149. 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 29 


POLITICAL PRESSURE BY PUBLIC EMPLOYEES AND OTHEB 
ORGANIZED GROUPS 


The British dockyards are but an example of that undue 
influence which local constituencies ean exercise over legis- 
lation in utter disregard of general well-being. In the United 
States the phenomenon is one of the outstanding character- 
istics of political life. Congressmen and state legislators 
continually place the demands of the voters of their districts 
for special favors and considerations above the interests 
and needs of the country as a whole. When organized civil 
servants exercise their political power in their own behalf 
they are acting no differently from the rest of the body 
politic. Executive and legislative authorities, however, are 
accustomed to think of public employees as their subor- 
dinates, obliged to do their will, and it is not strange that 
they should be pained and surprised if these employees use 
their power as citizens to force these very authorities to 
heed their demands. Unquestionably, it is socially unde- 
sirable for a group to platéits*énds above those of the com- 
monwealth as a whole, but so long as the civil service~is 
no more blameworthy in this respect than other groups in 
society it is difficult-to.see why it-should-be-singled-out. for 
special condemnation. stil the state must depend upon 
the civilservice for its functioning, and so long as the 
public authorities are in a position to impose special restric- 
tions on these workers they will, no doubt, continue to do 
so in the name of public welfare and safety. 


THE SPECIAL CIVIL SERVICE CONSTITUENCIES IN AUSTRALIA 


In France public employees have been so free in the use 
of their political and economic power to enforce their 
demands that the question of their relation to the state has 
long been a burning political issue. The same is true in 
Australia, both in the commonwealth and the states. The 
state of Victoria, where state employees constitute a very 
large proportion of the electorate, sought to overcome what 
it felt to be the undue political influence of its civil servants 
by depriving them of their general franchise in the regular 
constituencies and substituting therefor a special franchise 
under which they were entitled to elect special Parliamen- 
tary representatives.” Under this system one of the thirty- 

#4 Victoria Constitution Act of 1903. Com. Papers (1903) XLIV, 109, pp. 7-8. 


30 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


five members of the upper chamber, the Legislative Council, 
was chosen by the state railway and public service em- 
ployees, while three of the sixty-eight members of the lower 
house, the Legislative Assembly, were chosen by the same 
group, two being specially elected by the railway workers 
and one by the other public employees.?° 

The plan was a complete failure. It was abandoned in 
1906 after having been in operation for about three years. 
The position of the civil service representatives was prac- 
tically useless. They were looked upon as the biased 
spokesmen of a narrow special interest, with the result 
that their counsel or speeches were of no effect whatever.?® 
The problem of the political influence of a large organized 
civil service is but a phase of the problem of group pressures 
in politics. Any recasting of governmental machinery to 
meet the problem should be one which attempts to meet it 
in all its manifestations. A reorganization which attempts 
to meet but a single phase is bound to work injustice to 
the group singled out. 


THE POPULAR CONCEPTION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT 


Despite fears and objections, labor organizations not 
unlike those in private industry do exist among civil work- 
ers. Most of these groups are firmly established and the 
problems of working conditions with which they have to 
deal are to them far more important than the theoretical 
public dangers to which their own existence gives rise. 
Popular notions as to the character of public employment 
have contributed in no small measure to the difficulty of 
these organizations in their efforts to improve the condition 
of those for whom they speak. 

There is a deep-seated conviction that government jobs 
are “government snaps,” that public employees are a privi- 
leged group*’ enjoying short hours, good pay, little work, 
long vacations, liberal sick leaves, pensions, fixed and cer- 
tain salaries unaffected by economic depressions, security 


2° Victoria Year Book (1920-21), pp. 18-19. 

26 Royal Commission on the Civil Service (Great Britain, 1912), ques. 7978-7981. 
See also Pratt, Edwin A.: State Railways (London: P. 8. King, 1907), pp. 37-9. 
7 President Taft referred to them as a “privileged class” in a speech before 
ie gb Ea a of Railway Trainmen at Harrisburg, Pa., May 14, 1911. See 
elow, p. ; 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 31 


of tenure, and thus no fear of unemployment.?* This belief 
in the peculiar attractiveness of government employment 
is one of the civil employees’ chief obstacles in arousing an 
effective public sentiment to back up their demands. The 
people, especially in the country districts, feel that their 
taxes are high enough now without contributing increased 
bounties to an already favored group.?° 

_ itis widely believed that the absence of the profit motive 
in government service deprives supervisory officials of the 
incentive to press and “drive” their workers, so that the 
latter have a very easy time of it. Yet no one thing has 
caused such great and such persistent protest on the part 
of public workers as the “speed up” methods and “driving 
devices” in use in the federal service.*° Moreover, although 
the profit motive is absent, there are government establish- 
ments, such as the post office, which are supposed to be 
self-sustaining. In such cases supervisors are obliged to 
press their workers to keep within the departmental balance. 
Besides, there is the well-known ambition of political chiefs 
to make records for economy in the conduct of their units. 
Such officers show no hesitancy about pressing their subor- 
dinates to effect their purposes. In such circumstances it 
makes little difference to the individual worker “driven” 
hard by his superiors as to whether those superiors are 
private employers working for their profits: or political 
officials working for their records. 

In spite of the popular illusion to the contrary, the vast 
proportion of government jobs require as hard work as do 
similar places in private employ. The notion of the attrac- 
tiveness of public employment is largely a relic of other 
days. The advantages which remain today are balanced 
by the inflexibility of the pay schedules, the obstacles in 
the way of securing redress of grievances, the small promise 
of economic advancement in the kinds of work where such 
promise is good in private enterprise. 

Yet it is true that many clerical workers receive better 


*8See Fergusson, Harvey: ‘‘The Washington Job Holder,’’ American Mer- 
cury, March, 1924, pp. 345-50. ; : 

The annual payroll of civil employees exclusive of teachers is estimated at 
$2,500,000,000. Report of Committee on Civil Service Governmental Research 
Conference of the United States and Canada, June 1-3, 1922: The Character and 
Functioning of Municipal Civil Service Commissions in the United States, p. 5. 

® American Federation of Labor: MHistory, Encyclopedia, Reference Book 
(1919), p. 372. See also below, pp. 191, 208-10, 268, 


32 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


entrance salaries than do similar workers in private employ 
and that there are a great many persons, especially in the 
departments at Washington, who are overpaid at the ex- 
pense of their greatly underpaid fellows. This situation 
has been freely admitted by the organized employees.** 
When they agitated persistently for its correction they 
found their efforts blocked by politicians who were inter- 
ested in the maintenance of overpaid “soft snaps” for polit- 
ical plums. 


_” “POLITICS” IS THE GREAT DEFECT OF THE CIVIL SERVICE 


“Politics” is still the great defect of the American public 
service. About one-fifth of the personnel of the federal 
service is still designated without competitive examination,** 
and it is not uncommon for the President to issue special 
executive orders exempting particular appointees from ex- 
amination and often to issue blanket orders declassifying 
whole classes of positions.** Nor has Congress lagged 
behind in this regard. Since 1913 it has passed no less 
than sixteen statutes which permit appointments without 
reference to the Civil Service Act.*4 Thousands of positions 
have in this way been brought outside the scope of the 
provisions of the merit system. A considerable portion of 
the places now ostensibly filled through examination, such 
as postmasterships, are still political in fact,’> while prac- 
tically all of the rewards of the service go by political 
favor.*° 

Locally there are merit systems, more or less effective 
in ten of the forty-eight states—in one of these, Kansas, 
the law is said to be a dead letter—and in about two 
hundred and fifty municipalities?” The extent to which 
these civil service systems have succeeded in eliminating 
politics is at best conjectural, but it is probably safe to say 


%1 See the reclassification publicity matter of the National Federation of Fed- 
eral Employees (1919 to 1923) 

82 Thirty-ninth Report U. S. Civil Service Commission, 1922, p. VII. 

83 Same, p. 122 ff. 

34 See Fortieth Report U. S. Civil Service Commission, 1923, pp. 93-6. 

% “ ‘Only Republicans are appointed,’ says Postmaster General Work.’’ Good 
Government, Sept., 1922, p. 121 

3% Etheridge, Florence: ‘‘Trade Unions in Federal Service,’’ National Con- 
ference of Social Work: Proceeding, 1919, pp. 447-52. 

87 For a list see National Civil Service Reform League: The Standardization of 
Civil Service Reports (1919), pp. 19-20. This list includes Connecticut, which has 
since peeentee its civil service law, and does not include Maryland, which has since 
passed one. 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM 33 


that they have not done so to a greater extent than that 
of the federal government. 

The great majority of honest permanent employees look 
upon political influence not as a desideratum, but as their 
principal cause for complaint. It puts an end to initiative 
and ambition, in that it means advancement and reward 
not for those who do the best work, but for those who have 
the best friends. 


THE EFFECT OF THE INFLEXIBILITY OF PAY SCHEDULES 


The next and equally serious complaint of the service 
is the rigidity of the pay schedules. Legislative machinery 
moves slowly, and before it.gets_ready to lift old salaries 


to a plane with new. living costs the worker’s..debts have | 


become sufficiently great to eat up his increase; and before | 


long the new-scale_is out of date-and the process of read- 
justment must begin again as before., It is a well-known 
fact that while prices were at their peak in 1919 the pay 
of government workers fell far short both of necessary 
living costs and of the scale of other workers.** Prior to 
the Minimum Wage Act of 1921 and the Reclassification 
Act of March, 1923, the scale of wages for the clerical 
grades in the federal service had not been revised since 
1854, except for an emergency bonus of twenty dollars a 


month, while that of the subclerical grades, except for the | 


same bonus, had gone unrevised since 1866.°° During this 
period industrial wages rose many times. Of course govern- 
ment wages had been better to start with, but they soon 
lost the advantage of their lead. In May, 1921, it was 
estimated that there were some 50,000 adult employees of 
the United States government receiving a basic wage of 
less than three dollars a day.*° Between 1893 and 1919 
the increase in the average salary of federal employees in 
the District of Columbia was 20.53 per cent exclusive of 
the bonus, i.e., from $1,096 to $1,321, while the index of 


38 Conyngton, Mary: “The Government’s Wage Policy for the Last Quarter 
Century,’ U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthiy Labor Review, June, 
1920, pp. 1935; Knauth, Oswald W., “Teachers’ Pay in New York,’ The 
Nation, August 30, 1919, pp. 283-4; Evenden, E. S., “The Payment of Ameri- 
can Teachers,” same, pp. 293-8. Report of Industrial Conference called by 
President, above cited, pp. 41-2. Report of the Congressional Joint Commission 
on Reclassification of Salaries (1920), Part I, pp. 40-2. 

bs Report of Secretary of Commerce, 1916, pp. 41-43. 

# Hearings: House Committee on Labor. Minimum he Bill for Federal 
Employees (67th Congress, Ist Session), May 6, 1921, p. 


See 


tee ce 


34 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


retail prices of food for the same period increased from 
100 to 259.41 

These conditions, of course, had a disastrous effect upon 
the efficiency of the service. They resulted not only in a 
heavy labor turnover, but also in making the service unat- 
tractive to able young men and women.* This situation 
was the indirect result of the submissiveness of government 
workers, of their failure to call their grievances to the atten- 
tion of the public in an effective manner. A strike could 
hardly have harmed the service more. 


41 Conyngton, Mary, work cited, p.- 21. According to Miss Conyngton, the 
average exclusive of the bonus is “a reasonably accurate statement” of what 
happened to the older employees of the regular government establishments. 
The inclusion of the salaries of employees in the new organizations which grew 
out of the needs of the war and also of certain Navy Department employees 
whose pay had been readjusted to meet economic conditions brought the average 
up considerably. (On this point see also Report of the Reclassification Com- 
mission, Pt. I, pp. 41-2.) Even including the bonus, which the Reclassification 
Commission estimated at an average of $215, the average salary increase would 
have been only 40 per cent, and the figure $1,536 would have represented a 
perpnestie power of but 54 per cent of the $1,096 average government salary 
° ; 

42 Conyngton, Mary: ‘Separations from the Government Service,” Monthly 
Labor Review, Deccember, 1920, pp. 11-24. 


Crapter II 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM AND THE LAW 


FEDERAL LEGAL GUARANTEE OF THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE AND 
PETITION 


(The law regulates the relations of the government and its 
employees, but the giver of the law is*the’fovernment; that 
is, the employer himself. The volume of law relating to 
the organization of public employees is very small. It is 
nearly all statutory and practically none of it has come 
before the courts. So far as the federal government is con- 
cerned the most specific expression on the matter is found 
in the so-called Lloyd-La Follette act of August 24, 1912, 
which provides: 


“That membership in any society, association, club, 
or other form of organization of postal employees not 
affliated with any outside organization imposing an 
obligation or duty upon them to engage in any strike, 
or proposing to assist them in any strike against the 
United States, . . . shall not constitute cause for 
reduction in rank or compensation or removal of such 
persons or groups of persons from said postal service.’ 


Although the terms of this proviso apply specifically to 
postal employees, they are not to be interpreted as a limi- 
tation on the rest of the federal service. The act must be 
construed in the light of the conditions which led to its 
passage. The law does not grant the right. to organize. 
That had existed before its passage, and would have existed, 
in theory, without specific statutory guarantee. But the 
policy of the postal authorities attempted to deny this right 
by penalizing membership in organizations of which they 
did not approve.2. The purpose of the law was to stop this 
practice so that postal workers would be able to exercise 

137 Stat., 555. 
2See below, pp. 156 ff. 
35 


86 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


their rights as freely as other federal servants with whose 
organization membership the officials were making no at- 
tempt to interfere. 

A subsequent sentence in this same act provides that: 


“The right of persons employed in the civil service of 
the United States, either individually or collectively, 
to petition Congress, or any Member therof, or to fur- 
nish information to either House of Congress, or any 
committee or Member thereof, shall not be denied or 
interfered with.” 


This proviso, it will be seen, refers to the entire federal 
civil service. Like the passage above quoted, it granted no 
right which the employees had not previously possessed in 
theory. Its purpose was to nullify the presidential “gag” 
orders whose terms denied the right of petition to the whole 
civil service.® 


IMPLIED PROHIBITIONS AGAINST STRIKING 


It will be noted that the part of the act first quoted 
strongly implies a denial of the right to strike, although it 
does not do so specifically and directly. It has also been 
generally construed as a guarantee of the right to affiliate 
with the American Federation of Labor, inasmuch as that 
organization allows full autonomy to its constituent national 
and international unions, and, therefore, neither obliges 
postal unions to strike against the government nor proposes 
to assist them in such a strike.* 

It is widely contended that civil employees are forbidden 
to strike by the terms of their oath of office. The following 
is the official oath of postal employees, which is practically 
the same as that for other branches: 


“T, ——————, having been appointed 
do solemnly swear ‘(or affirm) that I will support and 
defend the Constitution of the United States against all 
enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true 
faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obli- 
gation freely and without any mental reservation or 
purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully 
discharge the duties of the office on which I am about 


SSee below, pp. 97, 113, 138-9, 171-2. 4See below, pp. 171-2. 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM AND THE LAW 37 


to enter. So help me God. I do further solemnly swear 
(or affirm) that I will faithfully perform all the duties 
required of me and abstain from everything forbidden 
by the laws in relation to the establishment of post 
offices and post roads within the United States; and 
that I will honestly and truly account for and pay 
over any money belonging to the said United States 
which may come into my possession or control, and I 
also further swear (or affirm) that I will support the 
Constitution of the United States. So help me God.” 


The first part of this obligation is the official oath of 
allegiance. Every foreign-born citizen takes it on the occa- 
sion of his naturalization. Every citizen, native or foreign- 
born, must take it before receiving a passport. The obliga- 
tions contained in this oath apply to all citizens, whether 
they specifically take it or not. If such is not the case, then 
the naturalized citizen, or the citizen who travels abroad in 
countries which require passports, owes the United States a 
greater degree of loyalty than other citizens. In the same 
way, this oath cannot be construed to impose a greater obli- 
gation on those citizens who earn their living by working 
for the government than upon those who do not.. The other 
stipulations, to discharge the duties of office “well and faith- 
fully,” and “to abstain from everything forbidden by the 
laws,” are but formalities in that violations of the law carry 
their own punishments. 


LAWS WHICH MIGHT BE INVOKED TO PREVENT STRIKES 


Though aside from provisions applying to the public 
safety forces of the District of Columbia, there is no specific 
denial of the right to strike in any federal law, it would 
nevertheless be easy for the authorities to place legal 
obstacles in the way of civil service strikes by invoking the 
statutes intended to prevent interference with the govern- 
ment’s activities. There is little reason to doubt that the 
courts and the press in their present temper would readily 
uphold such construction of the law. The fact that the gov- 
ernment was able to enjoin strikes of private railway and 
mine workers leaves little doubt as to its ability to place 
legal obstacles in the way of a strike of its own employees. 
The following are some of the provisions which it might 
well attempt to invoke: 


88 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


‘Whoever shall knowingly and willfully obstruct or 
retard passage of the mail, or any carriage, horse, 
driver. or carrier, or car, steamboat, or other convey- 
ance or vessel carrying the same, shall be fined not 
more than $100, or imprisoned not more than six 
months, or both.’”® 


A strike of federal workers might be held to be con- 
spiracy against the United States, in which case the gov- 
ernment would invoke the following: 


“If two or more persons conspire either to commit 
any offense against the United States . . . and one 
or more of such parties do any act to effect the object 
of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy 
shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not 
more than two years, or both.’ 


In the case of a strike of employees in the arsenals or 
navy yards, the government could invoke Section 43 of the 
Criminal Code, which reads: 


“Whoever shall procure or entice any artificer or 
workman retained or employed in any arsenal or 
armory to depart from same during the continuance 
of his engagement, or to avoid or break his contract 
with the United States . . . shall be fined not more 
than $50, or imprisoned not more than three months, 
or both.’” 


THE LEGALITY OF RESIGNATION EN BLOC 


It has often been suggested that if federal workers could 
not strike without running the risk of getting into legal diffi- 
culties, they could at least resign in a body and thus bring 
the government to terms just as effectively. Resignation 
en bloc has been tried‘in only one instance. In that case 
the employees concerned were charged with conspiracy and 
the United States District Court of West Virginia imposed 


5 Federal Criminal Code, Sec. 801, 35 Stat. 1127. : 

6 Federal Criminal Code, Sec. 37, 35 Stat. 1098. 

735 Stat. 1097. 

8 See statement of Frank Morrison, Secretary of American Federation of Labor, 
at Hearings before House Committee on Reform in the Civil Service. Removal 
of Employees in Classified Civil Service (62nd Cong., Ist and 2nd Sess.), 1911-12, 
p. 42: ‘One man has the right to resign and a thousand have the right to resign. 
I believe that the matter of resignation of a civil service office is recognized by 
Ke pes and that as soon as his resignation is received at headquarters it takes 
effect.’ 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM AND THE LAW 39 


fines ranging from $5 to $500 upon them.® This precedent, 
though it still stands, is hardly authoritative inasmuch as 
it rests merely upon the decision of an inferior federal court. 
The fact that the employees pleaded guilty to their indict- 
ment precluded the possibility of the case going up on 
appeal,?° 


STATE AND LOCAL PROVISIONS 


State and local authorities could undoubtedly find laws 
similar to these cited, to obstruct strikes among their em- 
ployees. One city, at least, Huntington, West Virginia, has 
declared the membership of police and fire fighters in trade 
unions illegal and cause for dismissal from the service." 
Following the Boston police strike and the attempt of the 
Washington police to form a union affiliated with the Amer- 
ican Federation of Labor, Congress passed measures which 
in effect forbid policemen or fire fighters of the District of 
Columbia to join such unions, which make it a misdemeanor 
for such employees to strike, and which make it impossible 
for policemen to resign without giving a month’s notice in 
writing.?? 


THE COURTS ON DISMISSALS FOR UNION MEMBERSHIP 


In Texas the highest court has twice upheld the right of 
municipal authorities to discharge city fire fighters for mem- 
bership in a trade union, saying that it possessed no power 
to revise the action of local authorities with regard to re- 
movals other than when that power had been exercised in | 
an “arbitrary and capricious” manner. The state statute | 
making it lawful for a person to join a labor union was 
declared to afford no protection against discharge on the 
grounds of union membership. It was the place of the city 
to decide whether such membership interfered with the 
trustworthiness or efficiency of its employees and the courts 
could not reverse its decision.*® 


3 veal before House Committee on Reform in Civil Service, April 7, 1916, 


p. 28. 

19 See below, pp. 276-7. ; : 
ao of Board of Commissioners of City of Huntington, W. Va., Sept. 
1 orclieg: Act of Dec. 5, 1919, 41 Stat. 364. Fire fighters: Act of Jan. 24, 1920, 

tat. 398, 

18 McNatt vs. Lowther (Texas, Court of Civil Appeals, June 9, 1920), 223 S. W. 
503; and San Antonio Fire Fighters Local Union No. 84 vs. Bell (same, June 19, 
1920), 223 S. W. 503. 


40 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


A similar decision has recently been rendered in the lower 
courts of Pennsylvania, upholding the city Public Safety 
Director of Pittsburgh in forcing fire department employees 
to drop their membership in a local union.** 

These decisions were in line with one rendered a few 
years before by the Supreme Court of Illinois setting aside 
an injunction restraining the Chicago Board of Education 
from enforcing a rule forbidding teachers to belong to labor 
unions. The court held that the adoption of the rule was 
a question of policy solely for the determination of the 
school board, and that when such questions had once 
been determined the courts would not inquire into their 
propriety.?® 


ATTITUDE OF THE MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES TOWARD GOVERN- 
MENT EMPLOYEES’ RIGHTS 


Only a degree less important than the law is the official 
attitude of the major political parties, for such attitude is 
often but a step away from law. The Republican Party 
Platform of 1920 declared under the head of “Industrial 
Relations”’: 


“We deny the right to strike against the government, 
but the rights of all government employees must be 
safeguarded by impartial laws and tribunals.” 


Although the Democratic platform was silent as to public 
workers’ strikes, there is little reason to doubt that on this 
question, at least, it endorsed the position of its rival. Presi- 
dent Wilson had condemned the Boston police strike as a 
“crime against civilization,’ and the platform, of course, 
had nothing to say about the anti-union activities of the 
Democratic Postmaster General Burleson. 

There is certainly no discernible distinction between the 
records of the two parties on matters affecting federal em- 
ployees. The first order restricting the legislative activities 
of these workers was issued during the administration of 
President Cleveland, a Democrat. The original “gag” order 
denying them the right of petition to Congress was issued 
by President Roosevelt, a “progressive” Republican, and it 
was made more stringent by President Taft, a “stand pat” 


14 Hutchinson vs. Magee (Common Pleas, Allegheny County, Pa., Oct. 20, 1922), 
70 Pittsburgh Legal Journal 945. 
15 People ex rel. Fursum vs, City of Chicago, 278 Ill. 318 (1917). 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM AND THE LAW 41 


Republican. The Lloyd-La Follette act, restoring the right 
of petition and guaranteeing the right to organize, was 
passed by a Republican Senate and a Democratic House, 
while the most uncompromising attitude of opposition 
toward civil service unionism in the history of the service 
was taken by Postmaster General Burleson under the ad- 
ministration of President Wilson, a “liberal” Democrat. 


FEDERAL RULES CONCERNING POLITICAL ACTIVITY 


is-in~the- field of political activity that the rights of 
federal servants..are.most-seriously limitedr"Phese-timita- 
tions, as has already been explained, have been. imposed. in, 
order to eliminate political interference with the personnel, 
Against those provisions which seek to prohibit” political 
assessments or forced political service upon public em-. 
ployees either on the part of their superiors or politicians 
outside, or which in turn seek to prevent them from coercing 
others, there can be no legitimate complaint. Such restric- 
tions are general wherever there is a formal merit system. 
But the restrictions against which serious objection is raised 
by the workers are those upon voluntary political activity 
which aim to prevent them from taking an active part in 
political affairs beyond casting their votes. The most severe 
of all these attempts to limit political rights are those of 
the federal government.’® Although restrictions on the 
right of state servants to run for office exist in a number 
of countries,1* there are few governments which limit the 
freedom of their servants more severely than does that of 
the United States by this rule:!* 


“Persons who by the provisions of these rules are in 
the competitive classified service, while retaining the 
right to vote as they please and to express privately 
their opinions on all political subjects, shall take no 
active part in political management or in political 
campaigns.” 


18 For an analysis of restrictions on political activity, see Mayers, Lewis: The 
Federal Service (1922), Ch. V, pp. 144-167, especially the section on ‘‘Restrictions 
on Voluntary Political Activity,” pp: 160-7. See also pamphlet of U. S. Civil 
Service Commission: Information Concerning Political Assessments and Partisan 
Activity, September, 1920. 

47 Webb, Sidney and Beatrice: ‘‘State and Municipal Enterprise,’’ special sup- 
plement to New Statesman, May 8, 1915, p. 23. 

#8 United States Civil Service Rule I, Section 1. 


42 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


But for a few exceptions® the restrictions cover activity 
of federal employees in all units of government, federal, 
state, county, and municipal. They forbid activity by indi- 
rection or through organizations.?° The Civil Service Com- 
mission has held that the fact of political activity by the 
employee is the final test, the methods and means being 
immaterial.2!_ Employees may, therefore, be held answer- 
able for the political activity of their wives or husbands, 
if it can be shown that they are in fact doing “by indirec- 
tion and collusion,” through the instrumentality of their 
relatives, what they could not do “lawfully, directly, and 
openly.’’? These limitations refer not only to activity for 
or against political parties or candidates, but even to po- 
litical causes such as woman suffrage. In addition to these 
restrictions, the seventy thousand federal workers who reside 
in the District of Columbia possess no franchise. 

The fact that there have been comparatively few dis- 
missals for the violation of the rules regarding political 
activity does not mean that they have succeeded in sup- 
pressing such activity on the part of federal workers. Em- 
ployees have managed to whisper their views where they 
could not shout them, and have in spite of prohibitions suc- 
ceeded in accomplishing a great deal by indirection. The 
rules do not forbid membership in political clubs, provided 
the employees do not serve as officers or on committees,?* 
nor have they been very effective in preventing organiza- 
tions from opposing their political enemies or aiding their 
friends. While the civil service rules forbid such activity 
through organizations, the Civil Service Commission is on 
record to the effect that nothing in the law or regulations 
forbids employee membership in trade unions.” In Eng- 


19 The few exceptions permit activity in certain villages adjacent to the District 
of Columbia where a considerable number of the residents and tax payers are 
federal employees and in localities in the vicinity of navy yards, stations, or 
arsenals, where the strict enforcement of the rules might influence the result of 
a local election, the issue of which ‘ ‘materially affects the local welfare of govern- 
ment employees resident in the vicinity.”” U. 8. Civil Service Commission, 
pamphlet cited, p. 10, Pars. 24 and 26. 

20 See letter of the President of the U. S. Civil Service Commission to the editor 
of the Federal Employee (Thirty-seventh Report, U. 8. Civil Service Commis- 
sion, 1920, pp. 105-6). This letter held that the republication by the Federal 
Employee of an article from_the Savannah Morning News attacking Senator 
Hoke Smith for opposing the Nolan Minimum Wage Bill for Federal Employees 
was a transgression of civil service rules, in that the Senator was a candidate 
for reelection. 

21 Thirty-eighth Report of U. S. Civil Service Commission, 1921, p. 1389. 

22 Same, p. 140. See also Postal pry March 4, 1920, 

23 Mayers, Lewis: work cited, p. 

24 See Federal Employee, Sept., 1916 p. 116. 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONISM AND THE LAW 43 


land there are no stringent legal restrictions on civil service 
rights. Yet “the force of opinion hardening into tradition’’?5 
and the professional standards of the service have stood in 
the way of improper activity, without at the same time 
handicapping the personnel in securing legislative redress. 

The regulations of the federal service went so far at one 
time as to forbid the right of petition to Congress, but regu- 
lations of such character have since been forbidden by law.?¢ 


THE NEW YORK RIGHT OF APPEAL LAW 


The Charter of the City of New York contains three pro- 
visions forbidding members of the fire fighting and police 
forces and employees under the Department of Education 
to join or contribute to any organization intended to affect 
legislation concerning them.?7 But these provisions are 
partly superseded by the act of 1920, which provides:?8 


“Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or 
special law to the contrary, a citizen shall not be de- 
prived of the right of appeal to the legislature or to 
any public officer, board, commission, or other public 
body, for the redress of grievances, on account of em- 
ployment in the civil service of the state or any of its 
civil divisions or cities.” 


THE POWER OF REMOVAL 


The power of removal is the club which the authorities 
hold over the heads of their subordinates. Nearly every- 
where the administration exercises this power with but few 
legal restrictions. The provisions of the federal law de- 
claring that organization membership shall not constitute 
grounds for removal or reduction have proved no obstacle 
to removal for organization activity.2® The authorities can 
get rid of whom they please for “the good of the service.” 
There is no appeal from their decision to an impartial 
tribunal. They make the charge, investigate, and sustain 
it. The requirement that the employee be given due notice 
and an opportunity to reply has proved but a mere for- 
mality affording no real protection. Furthermore, such 

a cay noel, A. L.: The Government of England (1916 edition), Vol. I, p. 147. 
27 Sections 306, 739, 1099. Charter of the City of New York. 


2 Chapter 805, Laws of 1920, State of New York. 
2 For examples see below, pp. 215-19. 


44 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


formal restrictions as the law imposes upon statutory offi- 
cers have no application to the President, whose power of 
removal is absolute. For years federal employees have been 
working for some sort of appeal tribunal, but their efforts 
have met with no success. 

Such tribunals or trial boards exist in several American 
cities but in most cases they are either controlled by the 
authorities, have purely advisory functions, or have con- 
current jurisdiction with the officials. In New York City, 
however, members of the police and uniform fire fighting 
forces and veterans can be removed only for cause after a 
trial. Removals of such employees are almost always con- 
tested in the courts.*° 

In Massachusetts municipal and state employees are en- 
titled to a public hearing with right of counsel, and all 
removals, except in the Boston police force, the metropolitan 
park police force, and the district police force are subject 
to court review.*! 

But effective restriction on the right of removal is excep- 
tional, so that, generally speaking, public employees hold 
their places at the pleasure of the executive. Discharge 
from the public service is often a far more serious thing 
than discharge from private employment. It usually bars 
the affected person from reemployment by the government 
under which he had worked, either permanently or for a 
fixed period. There are a number of kinds of government 
work which are of use to the government alone. Thus a dis- 
charged mail distributor can sell his special skill to no 
employer but the federal government. If he loses his job, 
he must begin all over again in a new occupation. The 
same is true of city policemen and other specially trained 
municipal workers, who, if discharged, must move out of 
town to find the work for which they are fitted. This binds 
large classes of civil workers closely to their jobs, and may 
account for their reluctance to take firm stands in oppo- 
sition to the authorities. ‘Those who, like President Butler, 
say “the door to get out is always open if one does not wish 
to serve the public on [its] terms,’** overlook the economic 
restrictions on legal freedom. 

3 See Stover, George H.: Legal Rights of Civil Servants in the City of New 
York, Chapters VIII, IX, pp. 71-98 


—98. 
31 Massachusetts, General Acts, 1918, Chapter 247. 
82 See above, p. 17. 


Cuapter III 


PUBLIC EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATION AND THE 
LABOR MOVEMENT 


THE EXTENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE UNIONISM 


There are, it is said, about fifty national and international 
organizations affiliated with the American Federation of 
Labor with members in federal employ? and nearly forty 
with members in municipal employ.? There is no reliable 
estimate of the number of public workers organized in trade 
unions. In January, 1920, The National Federation of Fed- 
eral Employees estimated that three-fourths of the personnel 
of the federal service was so organized.* This figure pre- 
tended to no more than a rough approximation and is 
undoubtedly a good deal too high. Between fifty and sixty 
per cent would probably be a fairer estimate. The municipal 
services in the larger cities are unionized to about the same, 
or, perhaps, a somewhat smaller extent. 


TYPES OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS 


There are five types of labor organizations to which fed- 
eral employees belong. The first type includes the regular 
trade and craft internationals affiliated with the official 
labor movement, like the unions of printers, plate printers, 
pressmen, bookbinders, machinists, electricians, boilermak- 
ers, pattern makers, etc. The second includes the craft 
organizations of postal employees affiliated with the A. F. 
of L., the letter carriers, post office clerks, railway mail 
clerks, and rural carriers. The third is the National Fed- 
eration of Federal Employees, affiliated with the A. F. of L., 
a comprehensive organization of limited ‘“one-big-union” 
character. The fourth group includes organizations not 
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, like the 


1Statement of President Luther C. Sa kale National Federation of Federal 
Employees, in the Federal ree hee, Nov. 22, 1910, p. 7. 

2 Based on data from the A. of L. 

® Federal Employee, Jan. 17, 1920, p. 1. 


45 


46 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


postal clerks’ and rural carriers’ and customs’ inspectors 
associations and the post office supervisory employees. The 
fifty group includes associations of a quasi-social, quasi- 
professional and quasi-political type, like the postmasters, 
collectors of internal revenue, etc. 

There are two international trade unions of municipal 
employees, the fire fighters and the teachers. The latter 
has some members who teach in private schools. The great 
bulk of unionized employees belong to regular craft unions. 
There are a number of local unions of city, county and state 
employees composed of clerks and office workers. Most 
workers of this class, however, are organized in local asso- 
ciations not connected with the general labor movement. 
This is also true of policemen. 


THE SKILLED CRAFTS 


Public employees who are skilled craftsmen have always 
belonged to the unions of their respective callings. These 
workers look upon themselves as craftsmen first and govern- 
ment employees incidentally. They are part and parcel of 
the labor movement and usually insist that their employ- 
ment by public authority places no limitations on their 
industrial rights. These employees are not bound to their 
jobs as are some other classes of civil servants. They ean 
pursue their callings elsewhere. Their union membership 
means more to them than any particular job, public or 
private. 


THE ‘‘WHITE COLLAR” PREJUDICE 


Government workers, as such, have only recently begun 
to flock into the trade union movement in large numbers. 
For years these workers preferred organization in inde- 
pendent units. They preferred to secure redress of griev- 
ances through the cultivation of the good will of the officials 
rather than to depend upon the help of their fellow workers 
in industry. But coldness towards trade unionism is a char- 
acteristic not of government workers alone, but of non- 
manual, office and clerical workers everywhere. It has been 
their “white collar” prejudice even more than general 
notions of the impropriety of civil service unionism which 
has kept these workers out of the labor movement. Even 
so, there is at present a far greater proportion of clerical 


PUBLIC EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATION 47 


workers organized in the government service than outside 
of it, that is, exclusive of the railway clerks. 


INTERDEPENDENCE OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EMPLOYEES 


Yet it is still urged that government workers have little 
in common with private workers and that, inasmuch as they 
“cannot strike,” labor affiliation is but a waste of money 
and but a means of antagonizing the employees’ “best 
friend,” the department. But this overlooks the fact that 
the general labor movement is a means of raising the eco- 
nomic standards of all wage earners, and that every bit of 
help government employees give towards keeping up this 
standard is of direct benefit to themselves. As Mr. Daniel 
C. Roper, first assistant postmaster general under Post- 
master General Burleson, put it: 


“The Government is only incidentally an employer 
of labor and it is no part of its function to establish 
new standards of wages. For the great mass of work- 
ers, these standards must be fixed by the economic 
demand and supply influenced as it is by the collective 
bargainings of organized capital and organized labor. 
For the Government to ignore the standards fixed by 
these forces, and to make wages in the postal service 
unduly attractive, would result in the reestablishment 
of the spoils system, and place an unwarranted drain 
on the public treasury.’”* 


Thus, even according to the testimony of one of the most 
bitter opponents of civil service unionism, there is every 
reason why public employees should help the cause of organ- 
ized labor, for the standard of government wages is deter- 
mined ultimately by the standard of wages outside. 

But besides this indirect help which organized labor has 
given public employees, the American Federation of Labor, 
representing the official labor movement, has aided directly 
in bringing about a number of changes of benefit to federal 
workers, while its city central labor unions and state fed- 
erations have been similarly active in behalf of city and 
state employees. The Federation has steadily opposed 


4 Postal Record, October, 1915, p. 264. 
5 See Carroll, Mollie Ray: Labor and Politics (1923), pp. 92-7. 


48 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


restrictions on the civil and political rights of civil servants, 
and is directly responsible for the removal of some severe 
disabilities. 


PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS AND THE STRIKE 


But both the Federation of Labor and its affiliated na- 
tional unions of public employees have yielded all but 
completely to current prejudice in the matter of the right 
to strike. Everyone of the national or international organ- 
izations, composed entirely of government employees, either 
has an “anti-strike” clause in its constitution or is on record 
through the expression of officers or conventions as being 
opposed to the use of the strike weapon in government sér- 
vice. The constitution of the National Federation of Fed- 
eral Employees absolutely forbids strikes, those of the 
National Federation of Post Office Clerks and the National 
Federation of Rural Letter Carriers disapprove of them. 
The National Association of Letter Carriers and the Rail- 
way Mail Association are silent on the subject in their con- 
stitutions, yet these groups, especially the former, would 
probably be far less likely to consider striking than any of 
the other public service bodies. The constitution of the 
International Association of Firefighters contains an expres- 
sion disapproving of the strike among its members, but its 
local unions have struck a number of times and in some 
instances they have had the International’s help. The 
American Federation of Teachers through a convention 
resolution has disapproved of teachers’ strikes. 


A. F, OF L. AND PUBLIC SERVICE STRIKES 


The American Federation of Labor, itself being but a 
loose federation of autonomous trade unions, leaves ques- 
tions of method and policy to be decided by the unions 
concerned. However, the Federation and its officers have 
gone on record many times on the question of civil service 
strikes, and although they have held that public workers do 
not surrender the right, they have never pressed this con- 
tention very far. This stand is in accord with the tra- 
ditional opportunist policy of the Federation. Evidently 
feeling that there would seldom be occasion to use the strike, 


6 See American chapels of Labor: Reconstruction Program, 1918, ‘Status 
of Public Employees,’ p. 


PUBLIC EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATION 49 


it preferred not to hurt the chances of organization by 
insisting upon the right. Mr. Gompers frankly put the 
matter upon such grounds when he hinted that the post 
office clerks had best not repeal the “no strike” provision 
in their constitution.’ 

A similar stand was taken by Mr. Holder, legislative 
representative of the A. F. of L., at a hearing before a 
House committee in 1916. Congressman Denison asked: 


“Don’t you think that the fact that there is not a 
right to strike, as we commonly call it, on the part of 
government employees, at least, such a right is not 
recognized—should make a difference between govern- 
ment employees and private employees?” 

Mr. Holder: “I think it should. I think it is gen- 
erally recognized that instead of admitting that right 
can be denied, the workmen may say, ‘We will waive 
that right’ .. .” 

Mr. Denison (interposing): “I did not say denied, 
I meant not encouraged.” 

Mr. Holder: “I would not say that the employees 
of the United States Government or any State govern- 
ment should be denied that right.”® 


It has been the practice of the Federation of Labor to 
emphasize the fact that legislation is the public worker’s 
last resort.® A strike, of course, might force legislation, but 
the Federation’s spokesmen have always implied that the 
method was inexpedient in that political action was on the 
whole a better, although perhaps sometimes a slower, way 
of achieving the same results. 

On the whole it is probably wise policy for public service 
unions to call attention to their non-use of the strike by 
means of official “no-strike” expressions. To insist upon 


7 Union Postal Clerk, October, 1919, p. 152; also below. 

8 Hearings: House Subcommittee of Comrnittee on Labor: On a Bill to Fix 
Compensation of Certain Employees of the United States, March 20-30, April 
3 and 5, 1916, pp. 11-12. 

® Letter of Secretary Morrison of A. F. of L. to the railway mail clerks, ea 
11, 1911. See also, American Federattonist, editorial, Jan., . 5 
American labor movement has made a clear differentiation between Saag 
ment workers and private employment, holding that in private employment the 
Strike is the last resort, while in government employ legislation is the final 
remedy.’’ Another statement of this position may be found in a pamphlet 
entitled Legislative Achievements of the American Federation of Labor (pub- 
lished by the A. F. of L., 1920), pp. 7-8 


50 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


a right of no immediate value could do no immediate good 
and might well result in greater hostility towards their 
organizations and in placing greater obstacles in their way. 
It might also weaken the influence among the rank and file 
of those who seek to emphasize the unity and common inter- 
est of all wage workers, and thus strengthen the factions 
which seek to maintain their official “stand in.” 


PROBABLE EFFECT OF THE INCREASE IN PUBLIC BMPLOYMENT 
ON THE WORKER’S ATTITUDE 


__Existing public employee organizations are not likely to 
resort to’ thestriké so"long“as*they can secure thé’ adjust- 
ment of grievances by other methods, but the use of these 
other methods will lead=thern ‘Inevitably to demand the 
elimination of restrictions on their civil and political rights 
As the eivilyservVice expands; boththrowsir the enlarsement 
of the state’s present functions and through the govern- 
ment’s assumption of basic industries, the personnel is likely 
to lose its submissiveness and demand the recognition of 
its full industrial and political rights. The organized rail- 
way workers, miners and packers would hardly be willing 
to surrender rights and methods which have stood them in 
good stead. The attitude of the railway workers during the 
period of federal control forced the administration to aban- 
don an attempt to enforce rules against political activity, 
while federal control of the wire lines and railroads did not 
prevent employees of these industries from striking on sev- 
eral occasions. An aggressive attitude on the part of such 
industrial workers in the permanent government service 
could hardly fail to have its effect upon other public 
employees. 

The restricted status of civil employees has no doubt gone 
far towards arousing a sentiment hostile to government 
operation among the unionized miners and railwaymen. 
The latter’s “Plumb Plan” was an attempt to substitute 
employee operation under public ownership for either gov- 
ernment or corporation operation, while the recent plan of 
the Nationalization Research Council of the United Mine 
Workers of America is a similar attempt on the part of the 
coal miners. “The American worker,” said this report, “has 
no use for the thing called state socialism. To have a’ group 
of politicians at Washington manage coal would be as dis- 


PUBLIC EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATION 51 


tasteful to the miner as it would be to the long-suffering 
public.’’° 


CIVIL SERVICE UNIONS AS PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS 


Civil employees in this country are far behind these 
industrial workers and behind civil employees abroad in 
the development of a group professional consciousness seek- 
ing a controlling voice in the technical affairs of their occu- 
pations. The reason for this is that American organizations 
have thus far had to struggle for their lives or for freedom 
from departmental control and have had little opportunity 
to do very much in the way of service improvement. Be- 
sides, employee suggestions for improved service when they 
have been made have not always been received gracefully by 
the authorities. Nevertheless, these groups have managed 
to take an interest in the welfare of the service and they 
will undoubtedly increase their interest when the authori- 
ties drop their hostility and substitute friendly cooperation. 
Every civil service association is formally dedicated to the 
welfare of the service as well as of the employees, and 
they have certainly helped the service through helping the 
workers. It is hardly necessary to point out that good 
working conditions are the prime essential to good service. 


THE OPEN SHOP IN THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE 


The relation of government employees to outside workers 
is not just one-sided, but rather one of interdependence. 
Under certain conditions of the labor market, low work- 
ing standards of public employment might react unfavor- 
ably upon industrial standards and pull them down. This 
accounts partly for organized labor’s interest in public em- 
ployees. It accounts also for the insistence of some craft 
groups of government employees on a government closed 
shop. 

The principal reason for trade union insistence on the 
closed shop in private industry is fear that employment of 
non-union workers may lower union standards. , In govern- 
ment seryice.there..is.no_possibility.-of. unorganized labor 
underbidding union.labor, since wages, hours and other 
conditions of work.are fixed by law ‘Oreunder. the authority 


19 United Mine Workers of America, Nationalization Dajentch Cottidl How to 
Run Coal (1922), p. 10. 


52 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


_of the law, and must, therefore, be uniform. Organizations 

composed entirely of public employees have never insisted 
on the closed shop in the service, as they would have little 
to gain from it.11_ The printing trades unions, on the other 
hand, who have but a small part of their members in gov- 
ernment employ, have insisted upon the device not so much 
in the interest of their government workers as in the inter- 
est of the union as a whole. These organizations’ efforts 
for one hundred per cent membership are blocked by gov- 
ernment open shops, as are their efforts to keep “scabs” and 
undesirable persons out of their callings.? They hold that 
“to recognize the principle of the union shop in all other 
parts of the nation, and then except government employees, 
only means to use the government service as a club to 
destroy all that the honest and increasing efforts of organ- 
ized labor have accomplished.” 

The federal service has been an open shop ever since the 
celebrated ‘Miller case” of 1903, when President Roosevelt 
ordered the reinstatement of W. A. Miller who had been dis- 
charged from the Government Printing Office because he 
had been expelled from the local Bookbinders’ Union.** 

For a time the President’s open-shop stand weakened 
trade unionism in the Government Printing Office® but 
today the union shop has for all practical purposes been 
reestablished.t® At least, the Printing Office is all but com- 
pletely unionized. Non-union workers might possibly find 
work there, but it is exceedingly unlikely that they would 
remain there as non-unionists for very long. Less than 
three years after the “Miller case,” the Washington Press- 
man’s Union declared: ‘‘The frequent allusion to the open 
shop intended to apply to the Government Printing Office 
has really no meaning in this allusion, as every new ap- 
pointee in any of the trades becomes a member of their 
respective union, and there is no prospect that this con- 
dition will be changed.”?’ 


See Stockton, Frank T.: The Closed Shop in American Trade Unions (1911), 
pp. 31, 160-1. 

12 Same, p. 161. 

18 Keleher, Wm. T.: ‘‘Open Shop in Government Service’; American Federa- 
tionist, January, 1905, p. 14. 

14 See Twentieth Report of U. S. Civil Service Commission, 1903, pp. 148-150. 

15 See Barnett, George E.: The Printers (1909), p. 289. 

16 Stockton, Frank T.: work cited, p. 48. f 

17 The American Pressmen (organ of the International Printing Pressmen aad 
Assistants’ Union), February, 1906, p. 100. 


PUBLIC EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATION 53 


There are a number of state printing plants which are 
actually or practically closed shops. Conditions in this 
respect in the Canadian Printing Bureau at Ottawa are 
about the same as in the Printing Office at Washington. 
The federal employees of the mechanical or metal trades, 
except in one or two instances, have not insisted upon a 
government closed shop, even though their position is prac- 
tically the same as that of employees of the printing trades. 
The fact that the metal crafts are not as well organized 
as the printing trades is doubtless responsible for this differ- 
ence in attitude. 

Of course, the closed shop in the public service would 
weaken the government’s control over its servants, just as it 
weakens the private employer’s control over his employees. 

Yet the demand for it is but proof that those employees 
who are not economically bound to the government service 
concede few, if any, special rights to the state as employer. 


THE DANGER OF CIVIL SERVICE RESTRICTIONS 


The restricted status of civil employees in this country is 
‘a matter of vital concern not only to the three million men 
and women who now earn their living in the service of the 
‘State, but also to all wage workers. The number of public 
employees is steadily growing as the functions of the state 
|xpand. Government is constantly entering new fields, 
and even the administration of its established functions is 
becoming more and more complicated and is requiring 
increasing numbers of help. Should the state take over 
basic industries, as many have demanded, a large propor- 
tion, if not an actual majority, of the working and voting 
population would be in government employ, or else be 
directly dependent for livelihood upon those who were. If, 
under such circumstances, the authorities should still insist 
upon imposing heavy political and economic restrictions on 
their employees, we shall have come close, indeed, to a 
situation wherein the great mass of men are the mere instru- 
ments of those in control, as Hilaire Belloc pictured in The 
Servile State. 





Part Il: ORGANIZATION AMONG 
POSTAL EMPLOYEES 





Part II: ORGANIZATION AMONG 
POSTAL EMPLOYEES 


CHaptTer IV 


EARLY DAYS: WORKING CONDITIONS IN THE 
POST OFFICES BEFORE THE MERIT SYSTEM 


It was not until after Congress had taken the first steps 
towards eliminating some of the worst abuses of postal 
employment that a definite and nationwide organized move- 
ment for the improvement of working conditions was begun 
among postal employees. There had been social and mutual 
benefit_associations, local in scope, among letter carriers 
ever since the institution of free city delivery in 1863.2. 
Although it is true that these groups occasionally inter- 
ested themselves in legislation or improved working condi- 
tions, such interest was but informal, furtive, and incidental 
and always secondary to their main purpose. Usually, when 
seeking to better the lot of the force, these societies would 
enlist the- aid of local politicians, and thus they often be- 
came tied to the local party machine in a way that was 
more to the benefit of that machine than of the letter car- 
riers. The conditions of the service before the coming of 
the merit system were hardly conducive to the growth of 
labor organizations. 


THE INFLUENCE OF “‘POLITICS”’ 


Down almost to the nineties favoritism and petty politics 
were the rule of the postal service. The postmaster and the 
hierarchy of supervisors were almost invariably politicians . 
of some. degree of local importance. The post office was 
conducted much as though it were an adjunct of the local 
political machine of the party nationally in power. A 


1 There was a New York Letter Carriers’ Association founded in 1863 and a 
Chicago Association founded in 1870. The deeade of the seventies saw the estab- 
lishment of similar bodies in many of the larger cities, 


57 


58 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


change in party, or even in faction, local or national, usually 
meant a change in the post office personnel from the post- 
master down to the humblest employee. But this was taken 
much as a matter of course. Men got their jobs through 
political influence and they lost them when that influence 
changed. It was not this shake-up following elections or 
primaries which constituted the chief abuse of the service, 
but rather the part which politics played every day of the 
year. 

The system under which the Post Office Department was 
run placed the employee at the mercy of the postmaster. 
Working conditions, even including pay, were fixed by him 
and not by law. Post office clerks had no standing with 
the Department at Washington.? Their position was more 
nearly that of employees of their local offices than of the 
United States government. The local postmaster paid them 
what he willed from an allotment made him by the Depart- 
ment for that purpose from a lump-sum appropriation.® 

The position of the carriers was not much better. The 
law fixed their maximum salary, but beyond that left their 
scale of pay to be determined by the Postmaster General.* 
This made little difference to the individual carrier, for in 
practice his pay, like the clerk’s, was governed by the local 
postmaster’s recommendation and the size of his allotment. 

The postal officials naturally had their particular friends 
and supporters, and those employees with the best friends 
got the best jobs and the best pay. No man was ever 
certain of his rate of pay or sure of his job. If something 
happened to his political friend, something was almost 
certain to happen to him, too. 

Employees were always expected to do their part for the 
party organization. It was common for a worker to be 
summoned before the boss—not infrequently a postal offi- 
cial—and be threatened with extra work, reduction in pay, 
or even dismissal, if he failed to do as he was told. Em- 
ployees often had their pay reduced to make funds for new 
men or to provide increases for the more favored. 

2 Dillon, Simon P.: “History of Boston Post Office Clerks’ Legislative Associa- 
tion,’’ in souvenir book of Boston Post Office Clerks’ Association (1912), p. 44. 


3 Final Report of the Joint Commission on Postal Salaries, 1921 Ss Doc. 422 


66th Cong., 3rd Sess. ), p. 39. (Hereafter cited as ‘‘Postal Salaries.’ ’) 
¢ “Postal Salaries,” ae 5 and 51. 


? 


EARLY DAYS: WORKING CONDITIONS 59 


WORKING CONDITIONS OF THE CARRIERS 


While politics was always an all-important consideration, 
the service had, nevertheless, to be carried on. There were 
many jobs which were “soft snaps,” but the great bulk of 
them required hard work and exacting care. The tours of 
duty of letter carriers averaged from nine to eleven hours 
a day.’ Reckoned from the time of reporting to the termi- 
nation of their day’s service, the carriers’ time was at the 
government’s disposal much longer. For this they were at 
first paid from $200 to $1,000 a year, and at an average 
of about $460.6 They were able, however, to supplement 
this wage by fees collected from patrons on their routes. 
Although the inequalities of this scale as between the lowest 
and highest or the average and highest pay were glaring, 
especially since all carriers did about the same work, it 
nevertheless remained in effect for more than ten years. 

In 1875 the Postmaster General tried to remedy the situa- 
tion by lowering maximum salaries and increasing those of 
the lower grades. In 1876 and again in 1877 Congress so 
reduced the appropriation for the free city delivery ser- 
vice that the Department was compelled, “reluctantly,” as 
it said, to make considerable reductions in carriers’ salaries.* 
_ This led to a great deal of dissatisfaction among the men, 
resulting in agitation for a law fixing their basis of pay. 
Though not organized to meet the situation, the carriers 
were nevertheless able to arouse no little sentiment in their 
behalf through their direct daily contact with the public. 

The Postmaster General, in his 1877 report,® also sug- 
gested a fixed pay law as a possible remedy for the situa- 
tion. About the same time Representative Samuel Sullivan 
Cox of New York (‘“Sunset’’ Cox) introduced such a mea- 
sure in Congress. 

In 1879, largely through Cox’s efforts, a law was passed 
creating two grades of carriers in cities of over 75,000 in- 
habitants, with salaries fixed at $800 and $1,000 a year, 
while the pay of carriers in smaller cities was fixed at $850 
a year. The law also provided for the establishment of a 
third grade, to be known as auxiliaries, at $400 a year.® 

® Report of the Postmaster General (First Assistant), 1893, p. 52. 


©“Postal Salaries,” p. 53. 
5 came, pp. 54, 55, 
PP. XVI 


® “Postal Salaries,” p. 55. 


60 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


There was difficulty at first in getting the authorities to 
enforce this law properly. Postmasters who had their own 
ideas as to the wages men should get sometimes refused the 
postmen the pay to which they were legally entitled.*° The 
Department, too, in spite, of the fact that it had recom- 
mended a fixed salary law, procrastinated for many months 
before classifying the employees as the act directed. But 
when the law did come to be enforced, it effected a marked 
improvement in the condition of the force. Its principal 
defect was the auxiliary grade. Men served as auxiliaries 
at $400 per annum, doing the same work as the regular 
carriers. Postmasters with a sufficient number of auxiliaries 
would not ask for a larger carrier personnel. Promotions 
from this third grade to the regular upper grades took place 
slowly as vacancies occurred, with the result that men some- 
times remained in the auxiliary class for years. In 1882 
the pay of auxiliary carriers was raised to $600. 


WORKING CONDITIONS OF THE CLERKS 


Meanwhile the clerks went on under the old system. The 
postmaster fixed their hours as he saw fit. Generally, 
schedules were arranged on an eight-hour basis with one 
Sunday off in three, though they differed from city to city 
and often even from station to station in a single city. 
Although overtime was frequently required, there seems 
to have been little complaint as to working hours outside 
of New York. There, in 1873, the postmaster, Thomas L. 
James, authorized supervisors to require such extra duty 
of clerks as they saw fit, without compensatory time or 
additional pay. The effect of this order was to bring about 
a general increase in clerical working hours. It actually 
became exceptional for a man to get off on time. One and 
one-half to two hours of extra duty became the rule. 
Twenty-minute cuts in the meal hour were frequent, as 
were orders directing all those who were to be off on Sun- 
day to report for duty on that day.1? This caused a great 

10 Postal Record, September, 1904, p. 193. 

11 Cox, W. V., and Northrup, M. H.: Life of Samuel S. Coz, p. 186. This work 
tells something of the condition of letter carriers during this period and gives a 
aaa glorified account of Cox’s efforts in their behalf. Chap. XXV, pp. 


Information from an official of the New York Post Office who was a clerk 
at that time. 


EARLY DAYS: WORKING CONDITIONS 61 


deal of grumbling, dissatisfaction and ineffective protest, 
but the condition continued for almost twenty years. 

The clerks at New York received better pay than those in 
other parts of the country, for its post office was in a class 
by itself. At Boston, a representative larger first class 
office, clerks entered the service at thirty dollars a month 
down to 1877.1* Thereafter, they entered at forty dollars 
a month,—and there was no system of fees by which they 
could increase their incomes. 


THE EFFECT OF THE CIVIL SERVICE ACT 


Yet the employees made practically no attempt to im- 
prove these conditions through organized pressure. Their 
hope was not concerted action, but individual political 
“oull.” Men with the “right friends” always stood a good 
chance of having their conditions improved and their griev- 
ances adjusted. But in 1883 Congress passed the Pendleton 


Civil Service Act. From then on things began to changé.— 


Se RENEE SRT uneey—coemennemenmnal 





and although it still continued to play its part, and does 50 
even today, its rdle became irregular and illicit. The world 
outside frowned upon such practices; before 1883 it had 
taken them as a matter of course. 

Gradually, as the patronage of these lower positions dis- 
appeared, Congressmen and politicians generally began to 
lose interest in the post office clerks and carriers, and these 
workers, thus thrown-ontheir_own resources, soon found_it 
necessary to unite among themselves in order to protect 
their interests _and_i improve- their-lot. Besides, with their 
positions now made ‘ ‘permanent,” postal employees saw 
that they had a stake in the service and in good working 
conditions which they had not had before. Previously a 
man was in a government job one year and out of it the 
next, and it did not make very much difference if working 
conditions did leave much to be desired. But now these 
men began to feel that they were in the service to stay, 
much as printers or machinists were in their crafts to stay. 
The organized movement among postal workers was the 
natural outcome of this changed situation. 


18 History of Boston Clerks’ Association, work cited, p. 44. 


CHAPTER V 


THE RISE OF THE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 


The first attempts to organize and bring their cases before 
Congress seem to have been begun among both clerks and 
carriers at about the same time, though the efforts of the 
latter were first to be successful. 


INFORMAL BEGINNINGS OF UNITED EFFORT 


The carriers’ movement began informally. The forces in 
the various cities would select one of their number to go to 
Washington to look after their interests before Congress. 
Each city force paid the expenses of its own delegate from 
funds collected from its members. In some instances the 
delegates were actually, though not formally, chosen by the 
local carrier society. It was through the efforts of a com- 
mittee of such delegates that Congress passed the law of 
1887 classifying carriers in cities of 75,000 and over in 
three grades at $600, $800, and $1,000 a year, and those in 
cities under 75,000 in two grades at $600 and $850 a year. 
The improvement over the old law was the creation of a 
regular $600 grade at which men entered the service. The 
Act of 1882, raising the pay of auxiliary carriers to $600, 
had provided a system of annual promotions for men in the 
regular grades. By making the $600 grade regular, the new 
law also made these lowest-paid men eligible for annual 
promotion. 


THE TRUMAN A. MERRIMAN ASSOCIATION 


Meanwhile the carriers of New York were laying the 
foundations for a stronger and more permanent organiza- 
tion. It had been the custom of the postmaster at that city 
to grant a vacation of ten days each year to the carriers 
under his jurisdiction. The routes of those on vacation 
were covered by three men combining to do the work of 

1 “Postal Salaries,’’ p. 56. 

62 


THE RISE OF THE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 63 


four. This vacation was purely a gift of the postmaster, 
and the practice of granting it seems to have been confined 
to New York. 

Employees in the government departments at Washing- 
ton were being allowed an annual leave of thirty days, also 
at the discretion of the heads of their departments. But 
this privilege did not extend to the employees of the Wash- 
ington, D. C., post office. These workers, living and work- 
ing in the same city as the more favored departmental 
employees, felt the difference keenly, far more keenly, nat- 
urally, than other field workers. Finally, the Washington 
letter carriers petitioned the Post Office Department for 
the same leave privileges as other federal workers in the 
city. The department referred the matter to its law officer, 
who issued an opinion holding that there was no law under 
which letters carriers could be allowed any vacation leave 
at all. Shortly after this the postmaster at New York was 
directed to discontinue the leaves he had been granting.’ 

The carriers who were immediately affected began a 
movement for an annual vacation law. In New York an 
organization, called the Truman A. Merriman Association, 
was formed to secure to letter carriers the same leave privi- 
leges that the departmental workers were enjoying. This 
group worked in conjunction with the forces in other cities. 
They succeeded in interesting “Sunset’’ Cox in their behalf 
and persuaded him to introduce a bill allowing them thirty 
days’ vacation. But the measure failed to pass. A com- 
promise was finally effected whereby the postmen through- 
out the country were granted an annual leave of absence 
of fifteen days with pay. The act also provided for the 
employment of substitutes at the rate of $600 a year, to do 
the work of the men away. 

Having attained its object, the vacation law, the Truman 
A. Merriman Association disbanded, but it left the carriers 
better acquainted than they had been before and awakened 
them to the advantages of organized agitation. 


THE GROWTH OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR AND THE EIGHT- 
HOUR MOVEMENT 


While the carriers were winning their little successes 
through informal or temporary organization, events began 


2Information from officials and employees of the New York Post Office. 


64 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


to move rapidly among the workers outside. The Noble 
Order of the Knights of Labor which, but a few years 
before, had ceased to be an absolutely secret “pass word 
and hand grip” body, was now looked upon by the workers, 
especially those outside of the skilled crafts, as their all- 
powerful supporter and liberator. A sreat deal of the 
Order’s prestige was based on tremendously exaggerated 
press reports of its activities and strength in numbers.* In 
1885 the Knights enhanced their prestige in the industrial 
field through a successful strike on the Jay Gould railroads, 
one of the strongest capitalist interests in America, and 
demonstrated their political strength by securing from Con- 
gress, almost entirely through their own efforts, the passage 
of the anti-contract labor law.* At this time the movement 
for the eight-hour day was rapidly gaining the interest of all 
classes of workers, and, although the national officers of the 
Knights moved cautiously on this issue, the local organizers 
used it for all it was worth. This combination of circum- 
stances resulted in an increase in the number of organized 
workers such as the country had never seen before. Frem 
60,811 members in 1884, the Knights of Labor grew to 
104,066 in July, 1885, and to 702,924 a year later. During 
this year the number of its locals increased from 989 to 
5,892. And press and popular estimates placed the mem- 
bership of the Order at anywhere from one to five millions. 

The letter carriers, whose daily tours lasted from nine to 
eleven hours, were as interested in the eight-hour movement 
as other classes of wage-earners. Since 1868 eight hours had 
constituted a day’s work for “laborers, workmen and me- 
chanics” in federal employ.? When the carriers had asked 
that this act be enforced in their service, the Department 
ruled that they were neither “laborers, workmen or mechan-. 
ics,’ and that the law, therefore, did not apply to them.® 
The need for new legislation was apparent and the em- 
ployees turned to the Knights of Labor as the agency most 
likely to get them what they wanted. | 

® Commons, J. R., and terns ee (ration by Perlman, S.): History of La- 
bour in the United States (1918), Vol. II, 370. See also Powderly, T. V.: 
Tharty Years of Labor (revised edition, 1390), pp. 252-3. 

Ommons, work cited, p. 373. 

s Same, p. 378-9. Also Powderly, work cited, pp. 253-5. 

6 Commons, work cited, p. 381. 

7R. S. sec. 3738. 


j ae Letter of Postmaster General, Feb. 12, 1886. House Ex. Doc. 71 (49th Cong., 
st Sess 


THE RISE OF THE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 65 


THE CARRIERS JOIN THE KNIGHTS 


The movement to join the Knights-began-in-New—York 
City among a group who had belonged to the Truman A. 
Merriman Association. It was a secret movement, chiefly 
‘among the carriers of the uptown districts. While these 
workers were forming their local assembly, a group down- 
town was doing the same thing. As a result, before each 
group knew what the other was doing, there were two letter 
earrier local assemblies of the Knights of Labor in New 
York City. To avoid conflict and duplication of effort, a 
joint legislative committee was set up by the two locals 
and subsequently they were merged into a single assembly. 
Thi iS] _ At about the same time similar bodies 
were formed in Brooklyn and Chicago and shortly after- 
wards in Omaha, Buffalo, and a few other places. The- 
Legislative Committee of the Knights of Labor drafted an 
eight-hour bill for carriers which was introduced in Con- 
gress in 1886. 





THE AUTHORITIES’ OPPOSITION 


The Department opposed the measure strongly, but, that 
did not slacken the workers’ efforts in its behalf. For a 
time the postmen were able to hide their connection with 
the Knights from the authorities. But when the local offi- 
cials discovered it, they spared no effort to disrupt the 
movement. The postmaster at New York, H. G. Pearson, 
was most bitter in his opposition. He suspended some one 
hundred and fifty organization men and took steps to re- 
move them as “detriments to the service.” The Depart- 
ment, however, evidently not wishing to risk a fight with 
the powerful Knights of Labor, overruled Postmaster Pear- 
son and reinstated the men.® 

The authorities also fought the organizations by arbi- 
trarily transferring active workers to less desirable routes. 
Men were removed from localities where they were able to 
exert influence among their fellows, or assigned to stations 
far from their homes. This meant additional expense for 
carfare and meals as well as loss of time in travel. It was 
common also to punish Knights of Labor men by ordering 
them on their vacations on very short notice, often less than 


*Information from officials and employees of the New York Post Office who 
were active leaders of the Knights of Labor Letter Carriers. 


66 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY |. 
twenty-four hours. Many active workers were compelled 
to take their leaves during the Christmas holiday period. 
The law at that time allowed the carriers fifteen days’ vaca- 
tion not exclusive of Sundays and holidays. By getting 
their leaves during the holiday period the men not only lost 
the time due them, but they also lost holiday gifts from 
patrons on their routes. In those days such gifts often 
totaled to considerable sums. 


THE KNIGHTS PUSH THE CARRIERS’ EIGHT-HOUR BILL 


Meanwhile the eight-hour question was being agitated 
as few industrial programs had ever been before or have 
been since. Meetings and demonstrations took place every- 
where and not infrequently these gatherings specifically 
endorsed the letter carriers’ bill. The year 1886 also saw 
an unprecedented number of eight-hour strikes in industry.?? 
These were part of a general eight-hour movement with 
which the Knights cooperated, but which was engineered 
primarily by the American Federation of Labor.™ 

But keeping a general labor demand in the limelight 
would not get a specific measure through Congress. So the 
Knights brought political pressure to bear and passed the 
word around that those who opposed the carriers’ bill would 
be punished at the polls. In June, 1886, a bill extending the 
provisions of the Act of 1868 to letter carriers passed the 
Senate, but it never came to a vote in the House.” 

In the Congressional election campaign in the fall of the 
same year the postmen, with the help of the labor order, 
did what they could to aid their supporters and defeat their 
opponents. When the new Congress met, “Sunset” Cox, 
who had been abroad on a diplomatic mission, was again 
on hand to take up the postmen’s cause in the House. 

Although the general eight-hour agitation had subsided 
somewhat by this time, the letter carriers were more active 
than ever. A great mass meeting in support of their mea- 
sure was held at Cooper Union, New York City, in 1888, 
under the auspices of the New York Assembly of the 

10 Commons, work cited, Vol. II, pp. 375-86. For statistics and details as to 
these strikes see also Bradstreet’s, Vol. 13, May 1, 8, 15; June 12, 1886; pp, 247, 
on the Css of Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada, 
founded in 1881, changed its name to the American Federation of Labor in ie 

2 For text of bill see Congressional Record (49th Cong., ist Sess.), p 


Since this bill contained no provision for overtime payment, it is doubtful Ps abel 
its passage would have helped conditions very much. 


THE RISE OF THE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 67 


Knights of Labor. The meeting was preceded by union 
parades and torchlight processions after the fashion of the 
day and was attended by large delegations from labor 
organizations throughout the city. Cooper Union was 
crowded to its doors and several overflow meetings had 
to be organized outside. The General Master Workmen 
of the Knights, Terence V. Powderly, addressed the gather- 
ing. When he left the hall he signed a telegram to the 
Legislative Committee of the Knights to place the carriers’ 
bill ahead of all labor legislation pending in Congress. 

When the plans for the meeting became known, Post- 
master Pearson seized upon the occasion as a good oppor- 
tunity to learn the identity of the carriers’ leaders and 
active workers. Inspectors and supervisory officials were 
sent to Cooper Union to keep close watch on the activities 
of the postal employees. The men were on their guard, 
however, and kept themselves out of the limelight.1® Similar 
_ demonstrations took place at other cities, but wherever the 
carriers were organized they were obliged to keep them- 
selves well in the background to guard their locals against 
the disrupting efforts of the postal authorities. 

This agitation, as well as Cox’s efforts in Congress, soon 
began to show results. The bill, which now contained an 
overtime feature, was reported out, and in spite of the pro- 
tests of some members from the South and West, whose 
farmer constituents “knew no eight-hour law,” went on the 
statute books on May 24, 1888.14 


THE FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 


For some time prior to the eight-hour law there had been 
a@ growing realization among the men of the need for some 
form of national organization. There was no connection 
between the forces in different cities aside from such con- 
tacts as their spokesmen or delegates established when they 
met at Washington. Even the Knights of Labor locals had 
no national connection other than the General Assembly of 
the Order. The result was often confusion and a good deal 
of working at cross purposes by men who were seeking the 
same ends. 

While the first eight-hour bill, which had previously 


% Information from persons closely connected with this episode. 
1425 Stat., 157. 


68 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


passed the Senate, was still pending in the House during 
the final session of the Forty-ninth Congress (December, 
1886, to March, 1887), an organization called the “Letter 
Carriers’ National Association” sent several petitions ask- 
ing the passage of the measure. This organization’s strength 
seems to have been in Pennsylvania and Ohio. It was in 
no sense a “national” association. Its life was short and 
its very existence was not generally known among the car- 
riers. Its only activity seems to have been its efforts in 
support of the first eight-hour bill. 

The first real effort. toward. national.organization came- 
the year after the passage of the eight-hour.law- —when—the 9 
letter carriers of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, issued_a_ call for a— 
gathering of carriers from all over the country. to. ‘meet at 
their city in August, 1889, at the time of the Annual En-~ 
campment of the Grand Army of the Republic. No official 
notice was taken of this call and no accredited carrier dele- 
gates were sent to Milwaukee. But when the Encampment 
convened, the Milwaukee carriers again set their movement 
on foot. This time they were more successful. A meeting 
was held at which letter carriers from several cities at- 
tended. <A bill of grievances of about twenty articles was 
drawn up and the formation of a national association of 
letter carriers was announced. A call was sent out to the 
carriers of the nation to send delegates to a national con- 
vention to meet at Boston the next year (1890). 

The association thus formed was no more than a paper 
organization. A group of letter carriers who were at Mil- 
waukee as delegates or visitors to the Grand Army Republic 
Encampment, having no authority to represent the forces 
in their cities, got together, formed themselves into a board 
of officers, created a “national association” and announced 
that they would issue charters to locals at fifty dollars 
apiece. Although the big cities which had already formed 
effective labor organizations refused ‘“‘to be taken in,” they 
nevertheless saw that the new movement was not without 
significance and that it had great. possibilities. 

Accordingly the New York Letter Carriers’ Association— 
that was the official public designation of the Knights of 
Labor Local Assembly—called a conference of delegates 
from all cities not connected with the newly formed Na- 
tional Association. They also invited the board of officers 


THE RISE OF THE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 69 


constituted at the Milwaukee meeting. This conference 
met in New York on July 4, 1890, and was attended by 
delegates from many of the larger cities. An agreement 
was made with the officers of the National Association so 
that all the cities present would be represented at the na- 
tional convention they had called to meet at Boston in 
September of the same year. The basis of representation 
was fixed at one delegate to every hundred carriers. 

As a result of this conference the convention of a real 
National Association of Letter Carriers met at Boston. The 
delegates from the larger cities easily gained control of the 
new organization, both through their strength in numbers 
and by the experience gained in organization affairs in their 
labor groups and benefit societies. 

John F. Victory of New York was elected national sec- 
retary. Victory had acquired a large interest in a paper 
which had been founded a few years before, called the 
Postal Record, a journal devoted to the interests of postal 
employees.1> Shortly after Victory’s election the Postal 
Record was sold to the Association and became its official 
organ. 

This paper was a decided asset to the organization. Vic- 
tory’s name was known to all the carriers of the country. 
He had been secretary of the committee of delegates whose 
efforts had secured the passage of the salary act of 18872° 
His paper already had some following and the weight of its 
influence along with Victory’s prestige went a long way 
toward strengthening the new Association. 

Following the Boston convention fifty-three cities re- 
ceived branch charters from the National Association.?? 
These included New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, Buffalo and 
the other cities which had previously established Local 
Assemblies of the Knights of Labor. Affiliation with the 
labor order had already proved so great an asset that these 
cities refused to surrender it for membership in a new move- 
ment no matter how full of promise it might seem to be. 


% In January, 1876, a little quarterly called The American Letter Carriers’ Maga- 
zine made its appearance. It was published at Cincinnati, Ohio, and was edited 
by a John H. Patterson. Its first issue demanded that postmen’s ‘salaries be raised 
to $1,200 a bagged The journal seems to have been short-lived. 

18 See above, 62. 

Figures oi ‘Mr. John N. Parsons, former president of the National Associa- 
tion of Letter Carriers. In nearly all the cities where benefit societies had e 
these groups became the nucleus of the new National Association branch. 


70 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


THE BREAK BETWEEN THE KNIGHTS AND THE ASSOCIATION 


Almost immediately the Knights organizations gained a 
control of the new branch associations. They became their 
inside governing bodies. The Knights’ officers automatically 
became the branch officers. This continued for about two 
years. 

During this time the Knights of Labor men, not satisfied 
with merely local affiliation, were bending their efforts 
towards bringing the entire National Association into the 
Order as a national trade assembly. This, however, met 
with a good deal of opposition from the unaffiliated cities 
and also from some of the national officers who had previ- 
ously been prominent in carrier local assemblies. This was 
especially true of Secretary Victory who was then perhaps 
the most influential figure in the Association. Those who 
opposed making the Association a national trade assembly 
of the Knights felt that the latter was by this time a rapidly 
disintegrating organization’® and that its failure had proved 
it an inefficient type of labor union. Besides, they felt that 
the tremendous power centralized in the hands of the Gen- 
eral Assembly would deprive the carriers’ association of 
necessary control over its affairs and special problems. It 
is interesting that the point of which so much has since been 
made, that the affiliation of public employees with “outside 
labor organizations” was wrong in principle, received com- 
paratively slight emphasis. The whole controversy, aside 
from its aspect as a factional fight within the Association, 
was merely one as to the expediency of the issue involved. 

In 1892 things came to a head in New York where the 
Knights had their principal strength. About half of the 
carriers there were in the Order.?® Dissatisfaction with the 
Knights’ domination of the local branch on the part of the 
“outs” grew into an open split. The contest was largely 
one- between the “outs”? and the “ins” for control of the 
branch. The dissatisfied group finally withdrew from the 
local organization and secured a charter as an independent 
local branch from the sympathetic national board of officers. 

When the National Association of Letter Carriers met in 

18 See Commons, work -cited, pp. 482-95, especially pp. 482 and 494. 
18 Estimate based on statements of Mr. John N. Parsons and Mr. Michael 
Fitzgerald, of the Finance Department, City of New York, former vice-president 


of National Association of Letter Carriers and Master Workman of New York 
Assembly of Knights of Labor. 


THE RISE OF THE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 71 


convention that year (1892) at Indianapolis, two delega- 
tions appeared claiming the right to represent the letter 
carriers of New York, one group from the Knights of Labor 
organization, another from the newly chartered Empire 
City Branch. The contest was decided in favor of the new 
organization, and the Knights of Labor carriers were accord- 
ingly excluded from the convention.*° 

They went back to New York and appealed to the other 
Knights of Labor cities to join with them in opposition to 
the National Association and form a separate Knights of 
Labor National Trade Assembly of Letter Carriers. The 
existing carrier locals gave their support, but the movement 
was unable to muster the required ten cities and failed. 

Thus far the Association had not merely held its own, 
but was actually coming out on top. Outside of New York 
the Knights of Labor groups soon dissolved as the strength 
of the Order generally began to wane. In New York the 
force was divided into two rival organizations. A small 
group continued to maintain the Empire City Branch as the 
recognized New York local of the National Association. 
The majority remained in their Local Assembly of the 
Knights of Labor. For three years the split continued. 
Both the Knights of Labor and the National Association 
of Letter Carriers claimed the right to represent the carrier 
body. Each organization carried on its own agitation and 
propaganda. The National Association conducted its pub- 
licity through its official organ, the Postal Record; the 
Knights ran their own paper, The Postman. Each faction 
presented its own petitions and requests to Congress. The 
result was such confusion that Congress finally refused to 
consider any letter carrier measure until the dispute was 
settled. 

The National Association appointed a committee to meet 
the New York men. In the negotiations which followed 
the latter had the advantage, for the Association was plainly 
anxious for the undivided support of the largest carrier 
group in the country. Besides, the support of the Knights 
of Labor was a factor which the National Association could 
ill afford to ignore, much less antagonize, even though the 
strength of the Knights had declined greatly by this time. 


°See Postal Record, December, 1892, pp. 255-6; January, 1893, pp. 8-9; Feb- 
Tuary, 1893, pp. 34-5; article by John F. Victory: ‘‘New York Letter Carriers 
at Indianapolis.”’ 


72  UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


The committee, accordingly, withdrew the objections 
made three years before to membership in the labor order. 
The Empire City Branch was disbanded. A new charter 
was issued to New York and the Knights of Labor group 
came back into the National Association of Letter Carriers, 
and things were once again as they had been before the 
schism. 

Shortly before the break the National Association and 
the General Assembly of the Knights of Labor together 
circulated a petition to the President of the United States 
to place all post office clerks and carriers under the pro- 
visions of the Civil Service Law. Offices with less than 
fifty employees had not, up to that time, been brought under 
those provisions. Terence V. Powderly, General Master 
Workman of the Knights of Labor, presented the carriers’ 
petition. President Harrison issued his order complying 
with its request, in 1891. 


THE DEPARTMENT “INTERPRETS” THE EIGHT-HOUR LAW 


However it may seem, the organized carriers did not 
spend all their time in the year following scrapping among 
themselves. The Post Office Department did not let them. 
The eight-hour law, which had been won from Congress 
in spite of the Department’s opposition, was even less pleas- 
ing to the officials in its actuality than it had been in pros- 
pect. To enforce the new order and still maintain an 
efficient delivery system was undoubtedly difficult. It pre- 
sented the officials with a problem the like of which they 
had not been called upon to solve before, and, by their own 
confession, it caused them ‘much concern and annoy- 
ance’’;*+ so much, in fact, that for three months no attempt 
whatever was made to enforce the measure, while for almost 
five years its enforcement was but half-hearted and every 
effort was made to evade it.?? 

In August of 1888, less than three months after the pas- 
sage of the law, the Post Office Department inaugurated 
a policy of extension of the free city delivery service. In- 
creases of fifteen per cent were made in the carrier force.??- 
But this was insufficient, so the hours of the men employed 
were increased beyond the legal eight.2* The law provided 


21 ‘‘Postal Salaries,’ p. 57. 22 Life of Samuel S, Coz, work cited, p. 191. 
28 ‘Postal Salaries,’’ p. 57. 24 Same, 


THE RISE OF THE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 73 


that “if any letter carrier is employed a greater number of 
hours a day than eight he shall be paid extra for the same 
in proportion to the salary now fixed by law.’*> The men 
protested the violation of the law and insisted that they 
were entitled to overtime payment for their extra duty. 
But, the Department held, eight hours a day meant fifty- 
six hours a week. If a man was not employed on Sunday, 
the fifty-six hours might be divided through the six working 
days and no man would receive overtime payments who 
worked less than fifty-six hours a week. Under this ruling, 
if a man worked nine hours a day for six days, he still owed 
the government two hours at the end of the week. 


THE “OVERTIME CASB”’ 


The men retorted that when the law said “hereafter eight 
hours shall constitute a day’s work for letter carriers,” it 
meant that each day was to be taken by itself and not “be 
bunched with half a dozen others.” In this connection the 
carriers were upheld by Representative Cox, the law’s prin- 
cipal sponsor in Congress. But the Assistant Attorney Gen- 
eral for the Post Office Department upheld the Department’s 
interpretation. The National Association of Letter Car- 
riers, unable to obtain redress through with the postal 
authorities, carried the fight into the courts. A test case 
was arranged and an action brought in the Court of Claims. 
A judgment was issued there upholding the men’s conten- 
tion, which was subsequently affirmed by the Supreme 
Court of the United States.2° Following that decision Con- 
gress was compelled to adjust thousands of claims for 
overtime, which totaled approximately three and one-half 
million dollars.?? 

The National Association in 1891 set on foot a movement 
to establish a new carrier grade at $1,200 a year. Although 
the effort met with no success it helped the organization. 
The Association’s strength was also increased by its suc- 
cessful opposition to a proposal to separate the collection 
and delivery services and to pay collectors $600 a year. 
This low pay for work as hard, though not as exacting, as 
the delivery of mail was bound, it held, to reduce the effi- 

at Stat., 


157. 
26148 U. 8., 124 (1893), Pye) vs. United States. 
37 “Postal Salaries,” p. 5 


74 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


ciency of the service and endanger the higher scale of 
salaries already established. 

But the victory in the courts in the eight-hour or ‘“‘over- 
time case” did more than all else to enhance the prestige 
of the National Association. The split at New York was 
completely healed, as was evidenced by the election of 
prominent Knights to high office in the Association. John 
N. Parsons, national head, or General Master Workman of 
the Knights of Labor, was elected to the national presi- 
dency of the National Association of Letter Carriers, while 
Michael Fitzgerald, Master Workman of the New York 
Assembly of the Order, became a member of the carriers’ 
national board of officers. 


THE SPOTTER SYSTEM 


But the Association’s growth was accompanied by ob- 
stacles even more serious than the local schism at New 
York. It was obliged to withstand the efforts of individuals 
often holding or aspiring to places of prominence in the 
organization, who tried to direct its policy into channels 
which would be likely to bring them into the Department’s 
good graces or win them personal advancement. At the 
same time the authorities made similar efforts to control the 
Association’s policy by bestowing their official favors upon 
those who stood by them, while employees who showed too 
great a degree of independence ran the risk of discipline 
and even of dismissal.?® 

In the middle eighteen nineties the so-called “spotter sys- 
tem” was instituted in the city delivery service. “Spotters,” 
or sples, were stationed at various points along carrier 
routes to watch the postmen on their tours and to report 
all their violations and infringements of the regulations. 
None of these spotters were regular post office inspectors 
but men brought into the service from the outside. There 
were two reasons for this. First, it made it less likely that 
the carriers would recognize them; second, it furnished a 
large number of easy jobs to political henchmen. 

According to the authorities these spotters were employed 
to help the Department reorganize the city delivery service 

28 Based on the statements of men prominent in association affairs at that time. 
The situation led to the adoption of a rule by the New York branch requiring 


officers of the association to pledge themselves to accept no promotions during 
their terms of office. 


THE RISE OF THE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 75 


in the interest of efficiency and economy. The branch, it 
was said, was overmanned and carrier routes were too short. 
It was planned, therefore, to redistrict the cities, combining 
routes and reducing their number, while at the same time 
weeding out the less efficient members of the force. 

The spotters watched their men closely, reporting even 
their slightest and most inconsequential violations. In some 
cities as many as a fourth or even a third of the force were 
under charges, often for the most nominal and trivial trans- 
gressions, and were forced to fight for their retention in 
the service. There is a case on record of one of the most 
efficient men in the Cleveland post office reported for having 
walked through the concourse of an office building, coming 
out on the opposite street, when his directions called for his 
walking around the corner of the building. There were 
numerous instances of men who had completed their tours 
and returned to their stations ahead of the usual time, 
reported for loitering because spotters, not on the alert, 
happened to miss them and therefore took it for granted 
that they were wasting time. 

Usually the carrier was not told of any charge against 
him until months after the alleged transgression had been 
committeed. Then, without previous warning or intima- 
tion, he would be hailed before his superintendent and be 
asked to explain the violation of the rules committed months 
before. Of course, under such circumstances, employees 
were often unable to recall what they had done and there- 
fore could make no adequate defense. 

The Association came to the defense of its members under 
unjust charges and no small measure of its energies in those 
days was taken up with such work. In fact, a good many 
organization men felt at the time that the real purpose of 
the spotter system was to undermine the organization by 
discharging large numbers of its members from the service 
and by maneuvering it into a position hostile to the offi- 
cials, thus causing many cautions and fearsome employees 
to leave its ranks. The city hardest hit by this espionage 
was Philadelphia, where, it is said, almost half of the force 
were under charges at one time or another.?® 

These conditions provoked an animated discussion at the 


* Information from Mr. James C. Keller, of Washington, D. C., former president 
of the National Association of Letter Carriers. 


76 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Association’s convention at Cleveland in 1894. A number 
of delegates, in the hope of currying favor with the Depart- 
ment, defended the system. This attitude provoked a dele- 
gate from Philadelphia to a hot speech in which he bitterly 
attacked the administration, the spotters and their carrier 
defenders, charging that the latter’s only purpose could be 
to win official favor. The next day this delegate was cited 
for removal before any account of his remarks had gotten 
into the papers or was published by the Association. There 
were but two ways in which the information on which they 
acted could have reached the authorities: either they had 
their agents on the floor of the convention, or some dele- 
gates, again seeking official favor, had informed them of 
the proceedings. 


THE BREATH OF SCANDAL 


The methods of politics during the early years of the 
Association’s history were not of the purest, and it is not 
altogether surprising that the Letter Carriers’ Association 
should not have escaped charges or intimations of miscon- 
duct. In 1899 the organization was working for the passage 
of a bill to reclassify the carriers and increase their pay. 
A special assessment of ten dollars per person was levied 
on the membership to create a fund of from $120,000 to 
$150,000 to be used by the legislative committee in behalf 
of the measure. 

This step of the national administration met with pro- 
tests from a majority of the local branches. The Los 
Angeles branch led the opposition. It issued an address to 
the locals declaring the huge fund which the levy would 
create would be “at the absolute call and disposal of the 
executive board, none of whom are under bonds for the safe 
custody and proper disposition of so large a fund.” The 
branch thought it “unwise and unsafe to invite extrava- 
gance, corruption and dishonesty” by placing so large a sum 
for which there could be “no legitimate and proper use” at. 
the “absolute disposal of an irresponsible board of officials.’”” 
The address then went on: 


“This branch has reason to believe that the proceeds 
of $10 per capita assessment are intended to be used 
corruptly and illegally in influencing Congressional 


THE RISE OF THE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 77 


legislation in our favor. The address given here by the 
vice-president confirms us in this opinion. His address 
is an argument in favor of using any methods to effect 
our purpose, that bribery and corruption were uni- 
versal, and that the use of money liberally was abso- 
lutely essential to the securing of legislation in our 
behalf; that such men as” (there followed a list of 
prominent persons) ‘“‘were successful men, their prestige 
not affected by their peculiar methods of ‘doing polities.’ 

“We can readily believe that those born and brought 
up in an atmosphere of political rottenness and cor- 
ruption such as obtains in New York City and San 
Francisco, should take that view of it.’’%° 


At the same time an Associated Press dispatch reported 
that the Chicago carriers had “enthusiastically” voted to 
raise $200,000 as a fund to be used to procure legislation 
to ‘increase their salaries.” The fund, according to the dis- 
patch, was to be placed in the hands of the branch board 
of trustees who were to ‘“‘engineer the scheme.’’*! 

The action of the Los Angeles local brought the whole 
affair before the national convention at Scranton in Sep- 
tember, 1899. The matter was referred to the branches 
and a majority of them protested against the levy. Offers 
were made, especially after the failure of the Association’s 
legislative effort, to return the money which had been paid. 
In most places every dollar was returned to the members. 
Some branches, however, preferred not to take back their 
contributions, but to leave them in the hands of the national 
officers. 

In spite of charges and intimations there was no proved 
misconduct in connection with this episode. However, there 
are indications that not all of the Association’s dealings in 
its early years could stand the light of day. At the Scranton 
convention during the discussion of the legislative fund, 
while charges were being hurled back and forth, the chair- 
man of the legislative committee said: “If every man voted 
that I should disclose the names of the men who have 
assisted us in legislation, I would not do it for the whole 
convention. ‘The expense of the committee for the year 


% Congressional Record (57th Cong., Ist Sess.), p. 7015. 
*1 Same. 


78 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


has been $4,650, and that is less than it has been for the 
last seven or eight years. . . . This slandering of national 
officers has got to stop. . . . I stand ready to face any 
branch in the country, the officials of the department, the 
Supreme Court or injunctions; but when you trust any 
work to me and the convention votes for it, I will carry it 
out under the direction of the officers; and if they say to 
carry it out in secret, all the men in this country cannot get 
me to say anything. . . .’’ 

Four thousand six hundred and fifty dollars are a good 
deal less than one hundred and fifty thousand, but never- 
theless the Association or its leaders obviously had some 
dealings which they did not care to lay bare. 

Yet, in spite of the authorities, in spite of those members 
who tried to use the organization for their own advance- 
ment, in spite, even, of the breath of scandal, the National 
Association of Letter Carriers remained intact. By 1900 its 
ranks included practically all those eligible to membership. 


82 Congressional Record (57th Cong., Ist Sess.), p. 7014. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE POSTAL CLERKS’ STRUGGLE AGAINST 
DEPARTMENTAL DOMINATION 


Compared with the post office clerks, the organized move- 
ment among the city letter carriers has been rather smooth 
sailing. After settlement of its early difficulties the Na- 
tional Association of Letter Carriers grew into a strong 
and united organization, including practically all of the 
city postmen in the country. It has been able to hold 
together in spite of differences and serious controversies, 
while the ranks of the clerks have been split and their 
organizations torn by internal dissensions. 


THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CLERICAL AND CARRIER 
BRANCHES 


The causes_of this contrast_are_to_be_found—largely—in 


differing natures of the two services. Everything about. 


‘the tity delivery service conduces to the unity-of-its-foree- 


“The men are all engaged in othe same kind of work. Usually 
they remain-on-their routes for years, though shifts may 
be effected through officially approved. sautual-exehanges. 
Practically the only favors of the service are assignments 
to lighter routes. On the whole, there is little opportunity 
for promotion to supervisory posts. Almost the only car- 
riers to have received such promotions have been a few 
men who had come into prominence as local branch officers 
of the Association. A man who enters the service as a 
Carrier generally remains a carrier. 

The post ace clerks, on the other hand, are engaged 
ina great % “of -occipations and the favors_of_their 
branch are 1 aa? hey are the force concerned with the 
complicated business of distributing the mail in the post 
offices. Though misleadingly designated “clerks,” only a 
small proportion of them do work which might. properly 
be called clerical. Their tasks vary from hard manual 

79 


3 


80 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


labor, in which at least thirty-five per cent of the force 
is engaged, to that of highly trained distributors of mail, 
accountants and postal specialists of various kinds, with 
a good number of other occupations thrown in. There is 
work which is easy and work which is hard, assignments 
which are desirable and those which are not. There are 
the possibilities of special assignments at desirable windows 
and choice places in executive offices. When to all this is 
added the fact that promotions to the supervisory grades 
are made from the clerical body (the railway mail service 
gets its share too) the reasons for the differences, jealousies, 
rivalries and intrigues among these workers may be readily 
understood. While his organization has offered the carrier 
his only chance for-improved conditions, the clerk, in addi- 
tion to his organization, has always banked on possible 
political preference. The history of organization. among 
the clerks is.a_story of the growth of rival factions, one_ 
playing faster politics than the other, and then the forma- 
- tion of still other groups in protest against the whole busi- 
ness. 


ane 


FIRST UNITED EFFORTS OF THE CLERKS 


Several attempts were made, though without success, to 
bring the post office clerks of the country together at the 
time the carriers were agitating for a law fixing their basis 
of pay. The carriers, even without organization, it will be 
remembered, were able to bring their case to the public’s 
attention through daily contact with the patrons on their 
routes. But the clerks, who worked unseen in the post 
offices, had no such advantage. 

In 1882 J. Holt Greene, a clerk in the Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, post office, began a correspondence with offices 
throughout the country in an effort to induce the employees 
to elect delegates to a national convention of postal clerks 
to be held at Washington. The next year Greene succeeded 
in uniting the clerks of his own office at Louisville, Ky., 
and became the local association’s first president. He con- 
tinued his efforts for a national conference and finally 
succeeded in bringing together a group of representatives 
from several post offices at the national capital in De- 
cember, 1884. A bill classifying clerks, increasing and fix- 

1 Above, p. 59. 


THE POSTAL CLERKS’ STRUGGLE 81 


ing their pay, was drawn. It was introduced in the House 
of Representatives, referred to the Committee on Post 
Offices and Post Roads, and left there to die. Two years 
later, in 1886, another convention met. Its most important 
work was the naming of a legislative committee. This 
committee appeared before the House Post Office Com- 
mittee in behalf of a new classification bill drawn by the 
clerks and sponsored in the House by “Sunset”? Cox. But 
again the bill failed of passage. The agitation continued 
until Congress passed the classification law of March, 1889. 

Under that law the local postmaster, with the consent 
of the Postmaster General, fixed the salaries of clerks by 
grading them as to duty performed. The grades ran in 
even hundreds of dollars, all the way from $100 to $2,600.? 
The high pay went to supervisory officials many of whom 
were then called clerks. Those in what to-day would be 
considered the regular clerical grades got from $400 to 
$1,200. Promotions were brought about by Congress in- 
creasing the number of men in the higher grades. Then 
those in the lower classes would be advanced to the grades 
next higher. Most promotions occurred from the four or 
five to the six hundred dollar grade. The upper classifi- 
cations were usually reserved for favorites. This law left 
the clerks only a little less at the mercy of the postmaster 
than they had been under the old system. The act was 
unsatisfactory to employees and the Department alike, but 
in spite of the complaints of both it remained in force 
until 1907. 

Up to this time the conventions or conferences which 
had been meeting represented no strong or well-organized 
national body with a permanent executive or permanent 
local branches. The delegates who came together repre- 
sented a movement but a few degrees more formal than 
the carrier delegates who used to go to Washington before 
the National Association of Letter Carriers was established. 
Such local associations as had been formed at about this 
time were independent units having no formal connection 
with the national conferences. Many of these groups, call- 
ing themselves ‘clerks’ associations,’ were not permanent 
organizations at all, but groups of active workers who 
would club together and select some of their number to 

2‘*Postal Salaries,’ p. 40. 


82 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


look after their interests at Washington, before the local 
authorities, or, often, before the political machine. Dele- 
gates to the national gatherings were elected at local mass 
meetings of the clerks which adjourned as soon as their 
business was completed. 

These meetings and conferences seem to have attracted 
little notice on the part of the authorities so long as the 
movement remained informal, scattered and weak. In 
some places it even won their support and cooperation, as 
at Boston, for example, where the postmaster permitted 
the men to use the post office gallery as a meeting place. 
But it is possible, too, that the postmaster preferred a 
meeting in a place under his jurisdiction to one outside. 


POSTMASTER PEARSON TRIES TO WRECK THE NEW YORK 
CLERKS’ ASSOCIATION 


The local Clerks’ Association at Louisville seems to have 
become inactive after the national conferences got under 
way. At New York, where there had been great dissatis- 
faction among the men ever since the overtime order of 
Postmaster Thomas L. James in 1873, several attempts 
to form a permanent local organization came to naught. 
For this failure the antagonism of the authorities was in a 
large measure to blame. Yet in spite of their known atti- 
tude, a New York Post Office Clerks’ Association.was.estab- 
lished in August, 1888, Almost immediately official antag- 
onism grew into active opposition. The president of the 
Association was removed from the service, while the vice 
president, secretary, and treasurer were reduced and shortly 
afterwards removed also.* This was during the postmas- 
tership of the same H. G. Pearson who had tried and failed 
to dismiss one hundred and fifty Knights of Labor letter 
carriers. No effort, open or underhand, was spared to dis- 
rupt the new organization. Since overtime was the chief 
cause of complaint, the Association, naturally, pledged itself 
to work for an eight-hour law. Those interested in wreck- 
ing the organization worked among the clerks in the execu- 
tive offices and Money Order Department who did no over- 
time. A movement was set afoot among these employees 
for a salary increase. A difference arose within the Asso- 


8 Information from an official of the New York Post Office who was one of the 
leaders of this organization. 


THE POSTAL CLERKS’ STRUGGLE 83 


ciation as to whether the question of hours or salary should 
be given precedence. But the salary group was in too 
hopeless a minority to begin an independent movement at 
this time. 


THE HOUR VS. THE SALARY QUESTION 


Realizing that the success of their efforts depended upon 
the cooperation of other large post offices, the New York 
Association called upon the principal cities of the east for 
advice and help. Every office approached responded and 
a meeting was held at New York in November, 1889. Dele- 
gates attended from New York, Washington, Baltimore, 
Jersey City, Newark, Boston, Providence, New Haven, 
Brooklyn, Albany and Buffalo. Three measures were ad- 
vocated: an eight-hour law, a law granting a vacation of 
fifteen days, and amendment of the Classification Act 
just passed to provide for automatic promotions. A dif-' 
ference of opinion as to the order in which the several 
measures should be pushed showed at once. New York 
strongly favored the eight-hour and vacation laws, while 
Boston led the movement to emphasize the salary measure. 
This difference was more than just a matter of whim. 
New York received better pay than Boston or smaller’ 
cities, even though its pay was poor and promotions were 
scarce. But one and one-half to two hours a day or more 
of overtime was not a regular occurrence outside of the 
metropolis. This division, of course, strengthened the 
hands of the salary faction at New York. But the con- 
ference decided to attempt no solution of the difference 
until a gathering from all parts of the country could be 
assembled. It accordingly issued a call to all first-class 
post offices to send delegates to a convention at Washington 
early the next year (1890). 


THE FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POST 
OFFICE CLERKS 


The response was general. Delegates from all parts of 
the Union assembled, from San Francisco, California, and 
Galveston, Texas, as well as from the cities which had 
attended previous gatherings. Here in February, 1890, the 
National Association of Post Office Clerks of the United 
States was born. Locals were set up throughout the coun- 


84 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


try. Eight-hour and fifteen-day vacation and classifica- 
tion bills were drawn and introduced in Congress. In 
October of the same year the fifteen-day vacation bill be- 
came law though the classification and eight-hour bills 
could not get out of the committee. 

Although an eight-hour bill was formally endorsed, the 
Association concentrated its attention on a classification 
measure. At its second convention, in 1891, a legislative 
committee was named to look after affairs at Washington. 
This committee was very active.t It gave testimony several 
times before the House Committee on Post Offices and 
Post Roads. It lobbied vigorously and persistently. With 
every failure to get favorable action in Congress, its activi- 
ties increased. A great drive was made to get the classifi- 
cation bill through the short session of 1893. The House 
Post Office Committee reported favorably, but the Rules 
Committee would not name a time for its consideration. 
Delegations of clerks from various cities came to the Capitol 
to aid the legislative committee, but in spite of all the pres- 
sure the employees could exert, the Fifty-second Congress 
died without the clerks’ classification bill becoming law. 

» At this time an employee of the Washington, D. C., 
post office, Benjamin Parkhurst, was the national leader 
of the Association. Parkhurst had long been a resident of 
Washington, and through his membership in many orders, 
his social connections and large acquaintance he was able 
to exert a great influence, to obtain entrée and make con- 
tacts for the organization which might otherwise have been 
impossible. At first he served on the legislative committee. 
In 1892 he was chosen national president, a post to which 
he was re-elected year after year, almost automatically. 

So far as the national postal administration was con- 
cerned, there was no formal opposition to the clerks’ or- 
ganization in the early years of their National Association. 
While active at the Capitol, the organization showed little 
disposition to oppose the Department at Washington. On 
the contrary, it made every effort to work in complete 
harmony with it, to grow under its sheltering wing, its 
tutelage and guidance. During the Postmaster General- 
ship of Mr. John Wanamaker, the Association’s requests 
were always politely received. The Postmaster General 

4 National Association of Post Office Clerks: Official Book, 1894, pp. 51-2. 


THE POSTAL CLERKS’ STRUGGLE 85 


willingly met and cooperated with both the legislative and 
executive committees.® 

The Association’s stumbling-block, insofar as official 
opposition was concerned, were the authorities at New 
York. Postmaster H. G. Pearson and his subordinate 
officials used every means in their power to hamper the 
activities of the employees. Men serving on committees 
and planning to attend sessions during their free time 
would be assigned to extra duties to prevent their atten- 
dance. On several occasions employees bound for Wash- 
ington were met at the depot by messengers and ordered 
back to their stations. On one occasion such a messenger 
followed a New York clerk, a member of the national 
executive committee, all the way to Washington to deliver 
an order from Postmaster Pearson directing his immediate 
return to New York. The message was delivered while 
the man was awaiting an audience with Postmaster Gen- 
eral Wanamaker. Mr. Wanamaker seemed much annoyed 
when the message was shown him. He wired Postmaster 
Pearson requesting that the man be allowed to remain in 
Washington several days longer to carry out the purpose 
of his trip. 


THE ORDER OF 1895: THE DEPARTMENT RESTRICTS THE 
WORKERS’ ACTIVITIES 


But with the passing of Mr. Wanamaker there came a 
change in the Department’s attitude. The ever-increasing 
activities of the employees, both at the Capitol and the 
Department, began to get on the nerves of both Congress- 
men and officials. Finally, in 1895, the Postmaster Gen- 
eral, Wm. L. Wilson, issued the following order: 


“That hereafter no Postmaster, Post-office Clerk, ” 


Letter Carrier, Railway Postal Clerk, or other postal” , 
employee, shall visit Washington, whether on leave. 


with or without pay, for the purpose of influencing ~ 


legislation before Congress. 
“Any such employee of the Postal Service who vio- 
lates this order shall be liable to removal. 
“Postmasters and other employees of the Postal Ser- 
vice are paid by the Government for attending to the 


&¥rom persons active in organization affairs during Mr. Wanamaker’s adminis- 
tration, 


86 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


respective duties assigned them, which do not include 
efforts to secure legislation. That duty is assigned to 
the representatives of the people elected for that pur- 
ose. 

. “Tf bills are introduced in either branch of Congress 
affecting the Postal Service, upon which any informa- 
tion or recommendation is desired, I am ready at all 
times to submit such as lies in my power and province.” 


This was the first attempt to limit the activities of 
federal employees in their own behalf by formal official 
regulation. The rule was never very effectively enforced 
and soon came to be ignored entirely. 


“THE HARNESS-MAKERS” 


At New York, which through these years was the key- 
stone of the postal system, Postmaster Pearson was suc- 
ceeded by Charles W. Dayton under whom employee or- 
ganization enjoyed a period of favor and cooperation. 
But the “new era” was short-lived. Toward the end of 
the Dayton régime hostility toward the Clerks’ Association 
was renewed. But this time, instead of trying to break 
the organization through outward opposition, the officials 
set about to gain control of it. A movement to admit 
officials to membership was begun by a group of favored 
employees close to the supervisory force. This was op- 
posed by the branch officers and a majority of the members. 
The supervisors outside endeavored to keep themselves 
posted as to the progress of their efforts by a system of 
espionage under which unofficial tale-bearers would attend 
meetings and report back to their chiefs. To protect them- 
selves against these encroachments the majority faction 
organized a Local Assembly of the Knights of Labor, which 
soon became the inside governing organ of the New York 
Association. Its meetings were secret. Its existence was 
not openly acknowledged. To its own members and to 
other Knights it was referred to always as the “Harness- 
makers.” Of course this assembly was exceedingly careful 
of the persons whom it admitted to its ranks. 


DISSATISFACTION IN THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 


There was another influence, besides just self-protection, 
which led to the formation of the Knights of Labor local. 


THE POSTAL CLERKS’ STRUGGLE 87 


The continued failure of the National Association to obtain 
legislation naturally caused discontent and led the clerks to 
look elsewhere for help. They turned to the Knights of 
Labor who seemed in large measure responsible for the 
legislative successes of their brother employees, the carriers. 

This failure of the National Association led also to a 
growing anti-Parkhurst sentiment in some of the large 
cities, especially New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. 
These three locals threw their strength behind Parkhurst’s 
opponent at the 1896 convention of the Association, but 
failed to elect him. The feeling spread that Parkhurst 
had developed a machine to keep himself in office. The 
workers began to grow suspicious of his close social rela- 
tion with high postal officials and to feel that he was using 
his connections for the benefit of himself and his friends. 

These suspicions increased when the faction outside of 
the Knights of Labor at New York carried their advocacy 
of admitting officials to membership to the point of with- 
drawing from the local (Branch No. 3) and applying to 
President Parkhurst for a charter as the recognized New 
York Branch. Parkhurst’s executive committee thereupon 
revoked the charter of the regular local (Branch No. 3) on 
the grounds that it had violated the constitution of the 
National Association,® and issued a charter to the seceding 
wing as Branch 187, to which officials were to be admitted 
as members. Branch 3 protested and sent a delegation 
to the national convention at Baltimore in 1897. But the 
convention upheld Parkhurst and seated the delegates of 
Branch 187. 

Anti-Parkhurst sentiment now became intense, San Fran- 
cisco and Pittsburgh joining the opposition of New York, 
Chicago and Philadelphia, It was charged that Park- 
hurst had packed the convention with his supporters by 
obtaining free transportation from the Post Office Depart- 
ment for those whom he wished to have seated as delegates. 


THE BREAK IN THE NATIONAL’S RANKS 


The crisis came after the convention, when an employee 
of the Brooklyn post office who had been chosen chairman 
of the legislative committee resigned his place in favor of 


® Post Office Clerk (organ of the United National Association of Post Office 
at May, 1919, p. 4. Up to 1909 the title of this journal was the Postal 
erk. 


88 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Parkhurst on the grounds that the Postmaster General’s 
order, forbidding employees to go to Washington to in- 
fluence legislation, made it impossible for him to serve 
effectively. It was charged that this employee had ac- 
cepted the post with the understanding that he would act 
as he had. It is doubtful, however, whether Parkhurst, 
with trouble enough on his hands already, would have 
risked the results which he might have guessed would have 
followed such action. At any rate, whether the charge was 
true or not, this employee’s action brought things to a 
head. 

The Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco 
locals withdrew from the National Association. A con- 
ference was held at Pittsburgh of representatives from old 
Branch No. 3 of New York and the other seceding cities 
except San Francisco which was unable to attend. The 
advisability of forming a national association which should 
exclude supervision was discussed. Question was raised, 
however, as to the possibility of such an organization pro- 
curing salary legislation. But doubt on this point was 
dispelled by word from the men in San Francisco that the 
Chairman of the House Post Office Committee, Representa- 
tive Eugene F. Loud, had assured a committee of their 
number that, if the clerks would bring him a classification 
measure applying to themselves alone to the exclusion of 
supervisors, he was prepared to give it consideration. 


THE UNITED ASSOCIATION OF POST OFFICE CLERKS 


The United Association of Post Office Clerks was then 
organized. Its constitution excluded supervisory officials. 
The Chicago Clerks’ Association, though sympathizing and 
cooperating closely with the United Association, preferred 
to maintain an independent status rather than formally 
affiliate with the new movement. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, 
San Francisco and New York were the charter locals. In 
New York the Knights of Labor Assembly remained intact 
within the United branch. 

Meanwhile the officials at that office were sparing no 
effort to force the workers under them into the newly char- 
tered Branch No. 187 of the National Association. A scheme 
of procedure, emanating from postal headquarters, used the 
supervisory force as an organizing agency. A clerk would 


THE POSTAL CLERKS’ STRUGGLE ' 89 


be called into the office of his superintendent and told that 
“the Postmaster and Mr. ————— (a high official) wished 
him to join the Association.” Under the circumstances it 
took a great deal of courage to refuse such a “request.” The 
men knew well that failure to comply meant discrimination 
against them and very often dismissal from the service. 
This, and the fact that a change in national administration 
was pending (1896-97), forced a majority of the clerks into 
line. Then, of course, the officials had no difficulty in com- 
pletely dominating the affairs of the Branch.’ 


THE “PROMOTION SYNDICATE” 


During the next few years there developed one of the 
worst scandals in the history of the postal service, the affair 
of the “promotion syndicate.” It involved high postal offi- 
cials and officers of the National Association of Post Office 
Clerks at Washington, D. C., New York City and surround- 
ing places, especially Jersey City and Bayonne, N. J. 

It centered principally about the Chief of the Division 
of Salaries and Allowances of the Post Office Department 
who was a close friend of Benjamin Parkhurst. During 
- this chief’s incumbency the National Association of Post 
Office Clerks established a “legislative fund.” An employee 
in the registry division of the New York post office, chair- 
man of the legislative committee and also a close friend of 
the division chief referred to, had supervision of this fund 
to which clerks were asked to contribute on the plea that 
the money was necessary to obtain salary legislation from 
Congress. The sum of over $19,150 was thus collected. In 
New Yerk it seen became generally understeed that pre- 
motions could be secured by joining the Association (Branch 
187) and contributing to the “legislative fund.” The sum 
of twenty-five dollars was usually the amount expected for 
salary increases of $100 a year in the grades paying $600 
a year and over. At Bayonne, New Jersey; Jersey City 
and neighboring post offices, clerks received promotions on 
payment of 214 per cent of their salaries or fixed sums of 
$95 or $35. Orders from the Chief of the Division of 
Salaries and Allowances lirecting the promised promotions 
followed invariably upon the payment of the required sums. 


TInformation based on documents and papers for the use of which the writer 
is indebted to a member of the Sixty-seventh Congress and to a former officer 
of the New York Post Office Clerks’ Association. 


90 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


The money was handled through the chairman of the legis- 
lative committee.® 


THE UNITED VS. THE NATIONAL 


While the “promotion syndicate” was “getting down to 
business,” the new United Association was slowly making 
inroads on the National’s strength among the rank and file. 
At offices where both organizations had locals the rivalry 
between the two groups was bitter in the extreme. The 
United, especially at New York, had almost the whole offi- 
cial hierarchy arrayed against it. With brazen discrimina- 
tion practiced against its members on every hand, it took 
more than common courage to remain loyal to the new 
group. It is doubtful whether the New York branch could 
have been kept intact at all if it had not been for the sup- 
port of the Knights of Labor. 

The only legislation of this period of warfare (1897-99) 
was a law modifying the Act of 1889 by grouping the em- 
ployees in grades and making specific appropriations for 
each grade. While this effected some slight improvement 
in the condition of the men in the lower grades, it made 
little difference on the whole, since political influence was 
always necessary in order to be placed in the higher grades. 

The United Association, with all too many of the authori- 
ties arrayed against it already, tried to keep its activities 
strictly within the law. Not wishing to ignore the depart- 
mental order of 1895, though its opponents were doing so 
with impunity, it designated a lobbyist-counsel to look 
after its affairs at the Capital. The man it chose, though 
a former United States Senator, was not very efficient. His 
expenses were paid by money collected from the locals. The 
Chicago Association, though independent, sent regular con- 
tributions to the United for this purpose. The whole pro- 
cedure was a failure and led to much dissatisfaction and 
even to charges of graft, probably with little foundation. 

After about two years, that is by 1899, the rank and file 
of both organizations had become thoroughly tired of the 
quarreling. Pressure was brought to bear on local and 
national officers, especially in the National Association, to 
drop the fight and unite the two factions. Without a great 


8 See Report ot Fourth Assistant Postmaster General J. L. Bristow on “The 
Investigation of Certain Divisions of the Post Office Department,’ 1903 (58th 
Cong., 2nd Sess., S. Doc. 151), pp. 129-132. 


THE POSTAL CLERKS’ STRUGGLE 91 


deal of difficulty a plan of merger was agreed upon in the 
latter part of 1899. 


THE FORMATION OF THE UNAPOC 


The agreement was a thoroughgoing compromise. Neither 
group absorbed the other. An entirely new association was 
founded whose title, the United National Association of 
Post Office Clerks, preserved the names of both old groups. 
Supervisors above the grade of foreman were barred from 
active membership in the future, but all supervisory em- 
ployees, except postmasters, in the organized ranks at the 
time were permitted to continue their membership in the 
new body. 

But the formation of the Unapoc—the United National 
Association has always been known in the service by that 
nickname spelled by its initials—failed to heal the schism 
at the chief center of trouble, New York City. The United 
local became the new movement’s official branch at that 
office, but Branch 187 of the old National continued its 
existence as an independent association under official domi- 
nance. 

THE BRISTOW INVESTIGATION 

The “promotion syndicate” continued to ply its trade 
and to use Branch 187 for its purposes. But bit by bit the 
scandal began to leak out. An investigation in 1903 of 
widespread charges of corruption in the Post Office Depart- 
ment brought the whole affair to light. Removals, resig- 
nations and indictments in large number followed the report 
of this investigation,® which was made by Fourth Assistant 
Postmaster General Bristow at President Roosevelt’s direc- 
tion. This put an end to the “promotion syndicate.” 
Branch 187 managed to go on a while longer until it was 
dissolved at the request of William R. Wilcox when he 
assumed office as postmaster at New York. The manner of 
its dissolution at the request of headquarters is in itself 
sufficient proof of the character of Branch 187 as an ‘“‘em- 
ployee organization.” 

THE STORM CENTER SHIFTS TO CHICAGO: THE KNIGHTS OF 
LABOR LOCAL 


Meanwhile the organization storm center had been 
shifting from New York to Chicago. The Clerks’ Asso- 


®See Memorandum of the President to the Bristow Report (1903), pp. 5-10. 


92° UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


ciation there, it will be remembered, was an independent 
unit,1° without formal connection with either of the two 
national. movements, though it cooperated with the United 
Association and sympathized with its stand. 

In 1898 a group within this association organized a Local 
Assembly of the Knights of Labor along the very same lines 
as the similar assembly at New York.” 

Hardly had the new unit perfected its organization before 
Postmaster Gordon of Chicago gave it an opportunity to 
test its strength. He issued an order to all the clerks under 
his jurisdiction requiring them to wear uniforms while on 
duty. The new liveries—two a year—were to be purchased 
by the men themselves. A protest immediately went up 
from the men, but when they looked to the president of the 
Clerks’ Association to lead them, they found him unwilling 
to take a stand. Under pressure he resigned his office and 
the Board of Directors of the Association chose Frank T. 
Rogers to take his place. Rogers was one of the leaders of 
the Knights of Labor Assembly and later head of the 
United National Association for many years. 

The new leader took up the fight with full vigor. The 
postal authorities responded with equal vigor and Rogers 
found himself dismissed from the service on some tech- 
nicality. He appealed to Washington for reinstatement. 
The Knights of Labor brought their influence to bear, and 
in a short time Rogers was restored to his job. Incidentally, 
Postmaster Gordon soon forgot all about clerks’ uniforms.*” 

10 There were independent locals in a few other cities. 


U The following letter well illustrates the way in which this body worked within 
the regular Clerks’ Association: 


Office of Recording Secretary 
Order of Knights of Labor 
Local Assembly, No. 1928 
Chicago, Jan. 10, 1901 
Dear Sir and Bro.: 

You are notified that L. A. 1928, K. of L., in meeting assembled on Jan. 6, 1961,. 
endorsed the following named Brothers for nomination at the next meeting of 
the Chicago Post Office Clerks’ Association: (Here follows the list of candidates 
for the various offices.) 

You are instructed to attend meeting of The Association, Sunday, Jan. 13, 1901, 
at Great Northern Hotel, ‘Parlor L38,’’ at 3 p. m., and vote for the nomination 
of above candidates. 

You are further instructed to induce your friends to attend this meeting. 

Fraternally yours, 
DESTROY THIS NOTICE. (Signed) JoHN F. McCormick, 
Recording Secretary. 


12 See Postal Review, 1916 (‘‘A Text and Reference Book for Postal Employees,’” 
published by the National Federation of Post Office Clerks). James Bruch, editor; 
article by Edw. B. Goltra, p. 12; also p. 21. 


THE POSTAL CLERKS’ STRUGGLE 93 


About this time, too, the hour question was becoming as 
serious an issue at Chicago as it had long been at New 
York. Long periods of uncompensated overtime were be- 
coming a regular occurrence. Discontent among the men 
was great and at times it was difficult for the officials to 
maintain discipline. On one occasion when the supervisors 
were unwilling to let them go after a stretch of fourteen 
hours coming on top of a long period of overtime, seventy- 
five men in the mailing division rebelled, rang the ‘“Bundy”’ 
clock and quit work. And no others could be found to take 
their places.t* Nor was this the only such occurrence at 
that time. 


THE CHICAGO CLERKS FORM A UNION OF THE A. F. OF L. 


Even when the Chicago clerks’ local assembly was char- 
tered, the Knights of Labor was but a shadow of its former 
self. By 1900 it had long been apparent that the Order 
had yielded its predominant place in the American labor 
movement to the American Federation of Labor. 

Though interested in government employees from its very 
beginnings, especially insofar as the eight-hour day was 
concerned, it was in 1897 that the American Federation of 
Labor first showed signs of interest in organizing the em- 
ployees in the postal service. The convention of that year 
in endorsing a bill for the reclassification of clerks in first 
and second class post offices referred to postal workers as a 
class “subject to a cruel, cunning, systematic tyranny which 
prevents them from organizing like other employees’ be- 
cause the system of classification, “or lack of classification,” 
under which they were employed rendered them “subject 
_to every petty subordinate who holds a position higher than 
his co-workers.’’!+ 

The next year the Federation definitely invited postal 
employees into its ranks, saying: “In view of the efforts of 
the trade unionists of the country to protect the interests 
of pdést office employees we suggest they join the trade 
union movement and thus render a just return of service 

18 Hearings: House Committee on Reform in the Civil Service (62nd Cong., ist 


Sess.). The Removal of Employees in the Classified Civil Service, April and May, 
1911 i, January, 1912; p. 137. (Hereafter cited as “(House Hearings ak the Lloyd 


14 American Federation of Labor: Proceedings (1897), pp. 80, 97. See description 
of postal working conditions in article by Sullivan, J. W.: “The Post Office 
System’; American Federationist, August, 1902, pp. 420-1. 


94 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


to other wage workers.’?> Two years later, in 1900, the 
clerks of Chicago accepted the invitation and received a 
charter as Chicago Post Office Clerks’ Union No. 8703. 


THE UNION, THE ASSOCIATION AND THE A. F. OF L. 


This was one month after the new United National Asso- 
ciation had held its first convention at Atlantic City. The 
Chicago unionists, believing-it only a matter of a short time 
before the new national body would cast its lot with the 
Federation of Labor, remained members in good standing in 
the Association and sent three delegates and a committee 
of five to the 1901 convention to work for affiliation. The 
Federation itself sent its treasurer to address the gather- 
ing in its behalf. The convention decided to consult the 
branches, and, at any rate, to let the question of affiliation 
go over until the next year. The union advocates returned 
to their homes in a hopeful frame of mind, though they 
might have guessed that there was little trade union senti- 
ment outside of some of the larger offices and that govern- 
ment employees had not yet come to identify themselves 
with the working classes. 

When the convention of 1902 met at Kansas City the 
Chicago unionists were not only denied the privilege of the 
floor, but were not even seated as delegates. Needless to 
say, the convention opposed affiliation. Its grounds were 
that it might interfere with the civil service oath of office. 

But in taking this stand the delegates were by no means 
blind to the possibilities of labor’s aid. They sent a me- 
morial to the American Federation of Labor requesting its 
endorsement of eight-hour and reclassification bills in which 
they were interested, and in making their request gave the 
following explanation of the Association’s attitude towards 
the Federation: “That as members of the said Association 
they were all civil service employees of the government and 
had taken the specific obligation upon entering the service, 
binding them to take no step that would embarrass the gov- 
ernment in conducting its postal affairs and that, as organ- 
ized labor had in the past achieved many of its victories 
in the struggle for justice by means to which clerks cannot 
resort without violating their oaths, it would be impossible 
for that reason to become members of your honorable body.” 

145 American Federation of Labor: Proceedings (1898), p. 128. 


THE POSTAL CLERKS’ STRUGGLE 95 


However, “they desired to put themselves on record as being 
in hearty sympathy with your aims and objects and of 
being at all times willing to assist you in so far as it may 
be within their power in obtaining the ends you seek.’’® 

Having thus explained its stand, the Association went a 
step further. It made a request which, if it had been 
adopted, would, with a single stroke, have given the Unapoc 
the Federation’s recognition as the official clerks’ organiza- 
tion and would have stopped then and there, for the time 
being, at least, the spread of trade unionism among that 
class of postal workers. The petition pointed out that it 
was the Federation’s declared purpose to organize eligible 
trades or callings “when the said trade or calling is not 
organized.”** Since the postal clerks were already organ- 
ized in the United National Association, it was the duty of 
the American Federation of Labor to refuse to charter more 
clerks’ unions, to revoke the charters already granted and 
to refer the post office clerks to the United National Asso- 
ciation as being the proper organization with which to 
affiliate. The Federation, as might have been expected, 
endorsed the eight-hour and reclassification bills and re- 
jected the rest of the petition.?® 

The immediate result of the Unapoc convention was the 
withdrawal of all trade unionists from the Association’s 
ranks. It had become apparent that the two factions could 
no longer work together in harmony within a single body. 
The union movement was a definite challenge to what had 
been called the “cruel, cunning, systematic tyranny” of the 
postal authorities.1® It represented a definite break with the 
policy to which the Association still clung, of working 
always in such a way as to conciliate and never “embar- 
rass” the Department. 

16 American Federation of Labor: Proceedings (1902), pp. 158-161. 

17 American Federation of Labor: Constitution (1901), Article XIII, Sec. 2. 

18 American Federation of Labor: Proceedings (1902), p. 230. 

19 This “tyranny’”’ was given new impetus in 1898 when the Department 
adopted a policy of imposing fines for the infraction of rules. The system, 
not unnaturally, lent itself to a good deal of abuse on the part of the officials. 
In 1904 the Chicago Post Office Clerks’ Union challenged the Department’s 
authority in the matter through a test case in the Court of Claims. By 1906 
complaints had become so widespread that the Jepartment discontinued the 
practice. Two years later the Court of Claims handed down its decision in the 
test case upholding the union’s contention that the Department had _ never 


had the legal alge to institute the fining system. This e known in the 
service as the ‘‘Fining Case.’’ Sherlock vs. United States, 43 Cl. R. 161 (1908). 


Cuapter VII 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 


Ever since the unsatisfactory law of 1889 the clerks had 
been carrying on their agitation for a new classification act. 
For a dozen years they received practically no relief. By 
1901 it had become clear that the low pay and unsatisfac- 
tory conditions were breaking down the service. In 1900 
the American Federation of Labor used its influence to have 
the Department bring the clerks within the scope of the 
existing eight-hour law for federal employees. But their 
efforts were blocked by the Department’s ruling, which had 
stood since the similar attempt of the carriers years before, 
that the clerks were “neither workmen, laborers or me- 
chanics” and were, therefore, entitled to none of the law’s 
benefits.? 


UNSATISFACTORY WORKING CONDITIONS UNDERMINE THE 
SERVICE 


The First Assistant Postmaster General in his 1901 report 
showed that the average salary of post office clerks was but 
$818 a year as against $903 for carriers and $1,055 for rail- 
way mail clerks.2 The clerks’ average failed to tell the 
whole story, for it included the comparatively high pay of 
men in the upper grades, who were really supervisors. 
Thousands were receiving considerably less than the average 
$818 a year. It was becoming harder and harder to keep 
the service properly manned.? The clerks in New York, 
Chicago and other important offices were greatly over- 
worked. The mail was often seriously delayed. To avoid 
congestion, it had been found necessary to call in railway 
mail clerks to assist in the work of distribution during their 
lay-off periods—a thing hardly pleasing to the railway mail 
clerks. 

1 American Federation of Labor: Proceedings (1900), p. 67 


2 Report of Post Office Department (First Assistant), 1901, p. 92. 
8 Same, p. 93. 


96 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 97 


The opposition to reclassification and automatic promo- 
tions had come from two sources. The first was the “promo- 
tion syndicate” ring which would brook no such interference 
with its patronage—and business. But with this influence 
gone, there still remained the second obstacle, the legitimate, 
but no less determined, opposition of the Chairman of the 
House Post Office Committee, Mr. Eugene F. Loud of 
California. 


ROOSEVELT’S FIRST ‘‘GAG-ORDER’”’ 


There were bills before the Committee affecting both 
clerks and letter carriers. The two groups made heroic 
efforts to have the measures pass at the regular session of 
1901-2. From the opening of Congress the men’s represen- 
tatives were at hand. Members of both chambers, and 
especially the House Committee on Post Offices and Post 
Roads and its Chairman, were given no peace. The Presi- 
dent himself, who had endorsed reclassification while he was 
Governor of New York and a candidate for Vice President, 
was deluged with telegrams, letters and petitions. At length, 
whether at Chairman Loud’s advice or as capping the climax 
of his annoyance, or whether he really felt that the workers’ 
activities were illegitimate, Roosevelt issued his famous 
executive order of January 31, 1902—the first of the now 
famous “gag-orders”’: 


“All officers and employees of the United States of 
every description, serving in or under any of the Execu- 
tive Departments, and whether so serving in or out of 
Washington, are hereby forbidden, either directly or 
indirectly, individually or through associations, to 
solicit an increase of pay or to influence or attempt to 
influence in their own interest any other legislation 
whatever, either before Congress or its Committees, or 
in any way save through the heads of the Departments 
in or under which they serve, on penalty of dismissal 
from the Government service. 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.” 
The White House, 
January 31, 1902. 


Despite its sweeping and stringent character the order 
was looked upon more as a warning than anything else. 


98 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Nearly every one believed that it would soon be dropped 
or forgotten as was the departmental order of 1895. The 
employees obeyed and went back home with hardly a mur- 
mur. The only official notice taken of the order at the time 
of its issue by an authorized employee representative was 
by President James C. Keller of the National Association 
of Letter Carriers, and the notice he took was not public. 


THE CARRIERS’ MEMORANDUM REGARDING THE “GAG” 


Keller, unlike the other employee officers, stayed in Wash- 
ington and obtained an audience with President Roosevelt 
through the intercession of a United States Senator. He 
presented a memorandum in the name of the Carriers’ Asso- 
ciation stating its position on the order. The Association, 
he said, was willing to present its grievances through the 
Department, but if the Department in its turn declined to 
present the carriers’ case to Congress as that case was pre- 
sented to it—especially the plea for reclassification and 
increased pay—then the men, through their Association, 
would find other ways of making themselves heard even to 
the extent of exercising their constitutional right of direct 
petition.* 

According to Mr. Keller, President Roosevelt read the 
memorandum and then wrote across its title page: “To the 
Postmaster General: This has my unqualified approval. An 
admirable document.” And then the President sent the 
paper on to the head of the Post Office Department. 

The Letter Carriers’ Association, however, never did at- 
tempt to exercise the right of direct petition to Congress 
during the operation of the “gag-rule.”” When the Depart- 
ment failed to make an adequate presentation of their 
case, the postmen always managed to find a Congressional 
sponsor for their measures. It was impossible, of course, 
to prevent Association representatives from approaching 
their Congressional friends personally. This action was 
indeed a violation of the executive order, but such viola- 
tions were general and could hardly be prevented. The 
complaint against the “gag-rule” was not that it could not 
be circumvented, but that it was a weapon in the hands of 
the authorities which they could invoke at any time against 
individuals or organizations which they did not favor. 

4From Mr. James C. Keller, of Washington, D. C. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” = 99 


THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST CHAIRMAN LOUD 


The Roosevelt edict ended the open legislative activities 
of the clerks’ and carriers’ organizations, while Chairman 
Loud’s uncompromising stand against reclassification ended 
hope of legislative action during the current Congress. Loud 
contended that the letter carriers were already overpaid 
under the existing law. He was absolutely opposed to the 
principle of automatic promotions and held that any act 
containing such a feature was but a disguised ‘compulsory 
promotion” law.® 

During the final session of the Fifty-seventh Congress, 
after the reclassification bill was definitely “killed,” Loud 
summarized his opposition toward the measure, saying that 
he thought the Post Office Committee should be congratu- 
lated by the House for having “steadily stood against the 
so-called ‘reclassification’ bills which are but compulsory 
promotion bills,” and that he hoped Congress would “never 
remove the bar.’ So consistent was Loud in his opposition 
that he even advocated the repeal of the existing carriers’ 
classification law. 

There seemed to be little hope for the employees’ bill as 
long as Loud remained Chairman of the House Post Office 
Committee. During 1902 a committee of postal employees 
called at the office of a powerful newspaper editor at New 
York to enlist his aid in their behalf. This journalist also 
had newspaper interests in San Francisco, Loud’s city. He 
told the workers what they already knew, that Loud was 
the man to contend with and that there was little hope of 
success so long as he remained a power in Congress. 

The Republican postal workers of the representative’s 
district made a great effort to defeat him at his party pri- 
maries, but failed. Then, with the help of organized labor 
and of the powerful newspaper interest mentioned, the em- 
ployees secured the Democratic endorsement to the can- 
didacy of a friendly trade unionist and with him defeated 
Loud in the Congressional election of 1902. This is one of 
the few cases on record of federal employees combining 
politically to punish a legislative opponent. 

So far as the postal men were concerned, this campaign 
was carried on under cover. It was not openly and frankly 


5 Congressional Record (57th Cong., Ist Sess.), pp. 7010-15. 
® Same (2nd Sess.), p. 1705. 


100 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


an employee affair, nor was it an affair of their organiza- 
tions, as such. Yet the workers, especially the carriers, have 
not hesitated to acknowledge their part and to claim credit 
for the result. 

Charges and criticisms coming from many quarters fol- 
lowed the election and led the United States Civil Service 
Commission to conduct an investigation into the employees’ 
activities. Though a number of workers were called before 
the investigators on charges of “pernicious political activ- 
ity” and of violation of the Roosevelt “gag-order,” no 
removals were recommended. The Commission reported 
that the workers had unquestionably overstepped the limits 
of the regulations, but that it was impossible to find the 
ringleaders.? Besides, they said that, while the great ma- 
jority of carriers had opposed Loud, he also had had some 
active supporters among postal workers of all classes, espe- 
cially the higher officials. Many of the employees who had 
supported him had hoped thereby to obtain personal prefer- 
ence. Because it felt that the activity in Loud’s favor was 
as blameworthy as that in opposition to him, the Commis- 
sion recommended no disciplinary action other than a 
warning. 

The campaign, according to the investigator, was “a labor 
union fight from start to finish with the Democrats endors- 
ing and supporting the labor candidates.’”* The fact that 
little attempt seems to have been made to connect this 
aspect of the campaign with the postal workers’ activities 
and that, in spite of its investigation, it was impossible to 
connect a trip of the carriers’ national president to San 
Francisco in September, 1902, with the postmen’s opposi- 
tion to the Congressman,°® makes it look as though the Civil 
Service Commission was not very anxious to press the 
charges against the employees. 


“THE REIGN OF CZAR BRISTOW IV” OVER THE CITY CARRIERS 


Congressman Loud’s defeat might have been sweet re- 
venge, but it made no difference whatever so far as the 
expedition of salary legislation was concerned. The atti- 
tude of the House Post Office Committee continued much 
the same as before, while the “gag-order” restricted the 


7 Twentieth Report, U. 8S. Civil Service Commission, 1903, pp. 133-5. 
8 Twentieth Report, U. 8. Civil Service Commission, 1903, p. 133. 
® Same. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 101 


activity of the employees’ representatives. Nor was the 
“vac” their only obstacle. 

In 1903 the city free delivery service was transferred 
from the jurisdiction of the First Assistant Postmaster Gen- 
eral to the Fourth Assistant, where it remained until 1905 
when it was transferred back to where it had been before. 
The Fourth Assistant at this time was Joseph L. Bristow 
of Kansas. Bristow was also in charge of the rural free 
delivery service and the Department’s secret service, the 
corps of inspectors. It was about this time that informa- 
tion concerning shocking irregularities in the postal estab- 
lishment, including the doings of the “promotion syndicate,” 
began to leak out, and Bristow was directed to make a 
“thorough and exhaustive” investigation of the charges in 
question..° The role of inquisitor general, together with 
the fact that the largest body of men in the service, the city 
and rural carriers, came under his direction, gave Bristow 
a dominating position in the Department. It made him the 
real head of the postal establishment and he ruled it with 
an iron hand. 

He refused to recognize the workers’ right to organize or 
petition. It was his belief that the government could not 
bargain with its servants and that it was the Department’s 
function to control working conditions, under the law, with- 
out the interference or advice of the employees. He refused 
to deal with the representatives of the carrier bodies under 
his jurisdiction, telling them that he “did not need, did not 
want and would not have” their cooperation. When the 
Association officers persisted in their efforts to carry on 
their activities, he made determined efforts to crush their 
organizations. 

So far as the city carriers were concerned, the Depart- 
ment’s fight was directed principally against President 
James C. Keller of the National Association. Keller’s 
activities as an organization leader had brought him into 
disfavor with the administration shortly before Bristow’s 
rise to power, and ever since then he had been persona non 
grata at the Department. 

The first attempt to interfere with Keller’s freedom to 
attend to his organization duties came some months after 
the Loud campaign. Prior to this time Association officers 

1° See above, pp. 90-1, 


102 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


had had no difficulty in obtaining leaves of absence from 
postmasters to attend to organization business. But upon 
Keller’s return from his much criticized preelection trip to 
California, Fourth Assistant Bristow issued a special order 
to the postmaster at Cleveland which prevented Keller from 
receiving any leave whatever without the Department’s 
consent."? 

However, this prohibition seems to have operated for but 
a short time. At any rate, Keller was away from his route 
on leave almost continuously for about fifteen months fol- 
lowing September, 1903. Throughout this time, although 
he knew he was in official disfavor, Keller received no inti- 
mation that the authorities objected to his absence until he 
received a visit from an inspector one morning early in 
December, 1904. Acting on the inspector’s instruction, 
Keller called at Fourth Assistant Bristow’s office on the fol- 
lowing day. He was ordered to report for duty in Cleve- 
land at 6:30 the next morning. This was physically impos- 
sible since there was no train which could have brought him 
to Cleveland on time and Keller told this to Bristow. It 
made no difference. He was cited for removal on the charge 
of absence without leave and a few days later was dismissed 
from the service. Even before his reply to the Depart- 
ment’s charges was received his removal notice was on its 
way to the Cleveland postmaster. 

if the carriers had been able to present a united front 
to the hostile Department, the years immediately following 
the Loud incident might not have been so barren of achieve- 
ment. This lack of unity became apparent when President 
Keller called a meeting of his national executive board to 
meet the public criticism of the Association’s alleged part 
in the California campaign. A number of members of the 
board, instead of coming straight to Cleveland to discuss the 
organization’s attitude towards its critics and the Depart- 
ment, first went to Washington where they consulted the 
pleasure of certain officials.12 This division in the ranks 
between those who wished the Association to cater to the 
authorities and those who wished it to take an independent 
stand, whether the officials liked it or not, was apparent 
throughout Keller’s last administration. 


11 Postal Record, October, 1905, p. 241. 
12 Postal Record, October, 1903, p. 223. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 103 


So cautious was the National Association and so anxious 
was it not to offend, that the members of the executive 
board actually tried to restrain the national president in 
his efforts to present the carriers’ cause. They tried to 
make him their figurehead and to prevent his doing any- 
thing which might offend the postal authorities. Every 
effort was made to suppress the fact that the administration 
was fighting the Association bitterly. Aside from a few 
stray references which crept in, the columns of the official 
organ, the Postal Record, contained nothing which would 
indicate that the organization was meeting with great oppo- 
sition at the Department. 


THE R. F. D. NEWS AND THE FORMATION OF THE RURAL 
CARRIERS’ ORGANIZATION 


Very different, on the other hand, was the attitude of 
Bristow’s other charges, the rural carriers. It was only in 
1902 that the rural free delivery service passed out of its 
experimental stage and came to be looked upon as a regular 
and permanent part of the postal establishment. Shortly 
after this the rural carriers set out to form state associa- 
tions and it was not long before such organizations existed 
in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, 
and Delaware, and were in the process of formation in sev- 
eral other states. In January, 1903, a magazine known as 
the Rk. F. D. News, a privately owned paper “devoted to the 
interests of rural free delivery carriers of the United States,” 
made its appearance. 

The city carriers’ association had been urged to admit 
rural postmen to its ranks at its national convention of 
1900, but no action was taken because the rurals were not 
under civil service rules. Nevertheless, numbers of country 
postmen continued to apply for admission to the city body, 
and when a few years later the rurals were brought under 
the merit system, the city carriers seemed anxious to have 
them join with them. But by this time the R. F. D. News 
had come actively to sponsor a separate rural carrier asso- 
ciation and hope of merging the two groups vanished.** 

The News offered its columns to the men and promised 
to assist a national association in every way. In Sep- 


cal F. D. News, January, 1903, pp. 4, 13. Also Postal Record, October, 1902, 
p. ; 


104 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


tember, 1903, at its call, a national convention of rural car- 
riers was held at Chicago and the present National Rural 
Letter Carriers’ Association was brought into being. The 
Association adopted the R. F. D. News as its official organ. 


WHY IT HAS BEEN HARD TO ORGANIZE THE RURAL POSTMEN 


The Rural Letter Carriers’ Association has never been 
as inclusive or as closely knit an organization as some other 
postal bodies. Its membership at its high-water mark in 
1914 included somewhat more than half of the total number 
of rural carriers in the land. The national body is a sort 
of federation of state associations which, in turn, are 
subdivided into county units. The rural carriers are not 
an easily organizable force. They are scattered widely 
throughout the country districts and do not often come 
in contact with one another except at a few points, such 
as, for example, Dayton, Ohio, when a large number of 
rural routes radiate from an urban center. Organization, 
therefore, has not seemed as logical an expedient to them 
as to the city postal clerks and carriers and railway mail 
clerks, who are always being thrown into contact with large 
numbers of their fellows. Besides, thousands of rural car- 
riers share their neighbors’ prejudices against labor organ- 
izations or anything resembling them. 


THE POLITICAL INFLUENCE OF RURAL CARRIERS 


On the other hand, rural postmen have always come into 
closest contact with the patrons on their routes. They actu- 
ally know personally the families they serve. As indi- 
viduals they are thus capable of exerting a political in- 
fluence over a wide area which no other class of federal 
employees even approximates. It has been said that a 
rural carrier can make or break a Congressman. Whether 
this be true or not, they are undoubtedly in a position to 
exercise a degree of political influence which no politician 
would readily challenge or ignore. The successes of the 
rural letter carriers have been due in no small measure 
to this fact. Even with an organization not of the strong- 
est they have nevertheless been able to muster powerful 
support “back home” for the measures they have asked. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 105 


WORKING CONDITIONS IN THE RURAL SERVICE 


In many ways these employees have been better off 
than the other classes of postal workers. Even though 
obliged to spend a large part of their salaries in the interest 
of the service—that is, for the maintenance of their equip- 
ment—the amount which remained could often go as far 
in country districts as the pay of postal workers obliged to 
live in cities. Their work, too, is lighter than that in the 
other branches. Their tours of duty on standard routes! 
average six or six and a half hours a day.t® Of course, 
during the winter months their work is unenviable in the 
cold sections of the country and frequently takes all day. 
Often the weather is so bad that it is impossible to com- 
plete or even begin a tour. Until recently, in such cir- 
cumstances, the Department was in the habit of docking 
the day’s pay. But in the warmer sections of the country 
where there is seldom or never snow, and over the whole 
country for the major part of the year, rural carriers are 
usually able to complete their work in the forenoon and 
are then free to do what work they wish and to supplement 
their incomes as they choose with but few official restric- 
tions..* They can, too, and often do attend to private 
business transactions while actually engaged in carrying 
the mail. 

When the National Association was formed, rural carriers 
on standard routes received a salary of $600 a year, out of 
which they were obliged to maintain their rigs, horses and 
equipment. The National Association immediately upon 
its formation launched a campaign for an annual expense 
allowance of $200 to supplement the $600 salary. The 
R. F. D. News gave the proposition its fullest support. 


THE RELATION OF THE ASSOCIATION TO THE R. F. D. NEWS 


Although the Association had made this paper its “official 
organ” at its first convention, it did not acquire its owner- 
ship or assume control of its editorial policy. The editor 
and owner, Mr. H. H. Windsor, was not in the service and 
was therefore able to urge the rural carriers’ cause with 


14 Twenty- four miles for horse-drawn vehicles and 50 miles for motor vehicles. 

16 “‘Postal Salaries,’ p. 93. 

18 They are not permitted to engage in any occupation in which their position 
as rural earriers would give them an unfair advantage over their competitors. 
This restriction is not easily enforced. A good many rural carriers, it is said, 
engage in the sale of insurance, although this is a prohibited occupation. 


106 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


a greater degree of freedom and independence than many 
other spokesmen of the employees. This arrangement had 
its unquestionable advantages, especially with the “gag- 
rule” in operation, but it also had its serious drawbacks 
which have since come to be more and more apparent to 
the rank and file of the carriers. It placed the organiza- 
tion largely at the mercy of the editor, an outsider, who, 
through his control of its organ of publicity, could shape 
Association policy, control its councils and in no small 
measure forestall any opposition which might arise against 
himself. But in 1903 no one bothered about these disad- 
vantages. The great asset of an untrammelled and in- 
dependent organ outweighed the possible drawbacks of the 
arrangement. 

When it became clear, as it soon did, that an expense 
allowance could not be obtained, the News and the Asso- 
ciation advocated a salary increase. The low pay and the 
bad condition of the roads which wore heavily on the horses 
and equipment were making the service very unattractive. 
During 1904 about 2,500 carriers, or 19 per cent of the 
total force, resigned their places.17 Nevertheless the Asso- 
ciation’s activities for increased pay met with Fourth As- 
sistant Bristow’s strong opposition. It was not so much 
the increased pay to which he objected, for the First 
Assistant that year had urged a maximum salary of $750 
on twenty-five mile routes,* but rather to the carriers’ 
activities. 


“CZAR” BRISTOW’S HOSTILITY TO THE ORGANIZATION 


In April, 1904, a delegation of Association officers came 
to see Mr. Bristow at Washington. They received a very 
hostile and, as some of them said, a very “insulting” recep- 
tion. In spite of this rebuff the organization officers con- 
tinued their activities in Washington. At the same time 
the postmen back home were endeavoring to arouse the 
folks on their routes in their behalf by circulating petitions 
for higher pay. This angered Mr. Bristow and finally 
resulted in his issuing an order forbidding rural carriers 
“to sign, circulate or institute” petitions on their routes.?® 

Bristow’s hostility to the carriers’ organization came to 


uR,. F. D. News, January, 1905, p. 1, and ‘‘Postal Salaries,”’ p. 90. 
18 ‘Postal Salaries,’’ p. 90. 
FR. F. D. News, February, 1905, p. 1. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 107 


a head in December, 1904, when National President Cun- 
ningham and some other officers were removed from the 
service for their activities in connection with the salary 
increase campaign. ‘The formal grounds for Cunningham’s 
dismissal were violation of the “‘gag-order” and “absence 
without leave.” This dismissal came at the same time as 
that of President Keller of the city carriers and the formal 
grounds for the action were practically the same in both 
cases. Cunningham had been away from his route for a 
long time in connection with his organization work, his 
place being taken by a substitute. When he found his 
work handicapped by Bristow’s hostility as well as by 
restrictive regulations, he filed his resignation with the 
Department, but the authorities refused to accept it, prefer- 
ring to dismiss him.?° 


THE CLERKS’ CONVENTION AT CEDAR RAPIDS 


While the two carrier groups were having their troubles 
with Mr. Bristow, the clerks were continuing their efforts 
for a reclassification law. But their efforts only met with 
ill success at session after session of Congress. This con- 
tinued failure caused a lot of dissatisfaction in the ranks 
of the United National Association and resulted in a con- 
siderable body of opinion averse to the reelection of the 
old administration. 

When the sixth annual convention of the Association met 
at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in September, 1905, this dissatis- 
faction was increased by active electioneering efforts on 
the part of the national officers to carry a state in which 
they were interested. On the third day of the session the 
convention was thrown into a turmoil by a motion, ap- 
parently supported by the chair, to reverse the order of 
business and proceed to the election of officers.2+_ It looked 
much like an attempt to force through the administration 
slate before the delegates had had a chance to pass on the 
stewardship of the outgoing officers. Charges of all sorts 
were leveled against the motives of those supporting the 
motion—charges ranging all the way from steam roller 
tactics and dirty politics to aspersions on the honesty of 

2 Same, January, 1905, 


1 ff. 
a1 Proceedings Sixth Lanta Convention U. N. A. P. O. C. (verbatim report), 
1905, pp. 10-13. 


108 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


those concerned. Nevertheless, the motion carried. Im- 
mediately there followed another fight over the question 
of whether the elections were to be by ballot or by viva 
voce vote. The minority insisted on a vote by ballot, 
but the chair ruled otherwise and was sustained. The 
official group carried the elections as it had planned, but 
the minority was not through yet. The following after- | 
noon it reopened the entire controversy by bringing in a 
resolution of protest against the whole procedure. Then 
came the break which since the day before had seemed 
inevitable. The resolution was tabled.?* The delegates of 
fifty-five branches withdrew from the convention, held a 
session, perfected an organization and announced the for- 
mation of an independent association. 

The new movement lasted but a short time, for immedi- 
ately following the adjournment of the Unapoc gathering, 
the national officers got to work and succeeded in bringing 
nearly all of the bolting locals back into the fold. A great 
many of the individual members, however, refused to come 
back. The seceding group published a verbatim report of 
the proceedings on the convention floor taken from the 
minutes of the official stenographer. The summary appear- 
ing in the Postal Clerk,?* official organ of the United Na- 
tional Association, did not tell the whole story. An account 
of the split appeared in the Cedar Rapids Republican for 
September 8, 1905. It has been said that the successful 
faction of the convention bought this entire edition of the 
Republican to prevent the facts from becoming known.”* 


THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POST OFFICE CLERKS 


Shortly following the Cedar Rapids gathering, groups of 
clerks in San Francisco, Milwaukee and Louisville, having 
lost faith in the Association, organized local unions in 
affiliation with the American Federation of Labor. At the 
same time an organizing committee of the Chicago union 
was negotiating with several cities with a view to forming 
a national union of postal clerks. The dissatisfaction 
which came to the fore at Cedar Rapids made this com- 
mittee’s task a little easier than it would otherwise have 
been. In August, 1906, the National Federation of Post 


22 Same 13, 22-25. 23 Same, 28. 
Pol er 1905, p. 18 ff. 25 Postal Seeotne (1916), pe 22. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 109 


Office Clerks with seven locals and one thousand members 
was formed and was shortly afterwards formally chartered 
as a national union of the American Federation of Labor.*¢ 
A good many Cedar Rapids bolters joined the union move- 
ment, but that movement and the bolt were not identical. 
In fact the Chicago organizers say they tried their best not 
to poach upon the preserves of the organized clerks, but 
rather to bring those outside of the Association into their 
ranks.?7 Even at this time there were some who still 
thought there was a possibility of swinging the Association 
into the labor movement, but these hopes were soon dis- 
pelled.2® The character of the Federation then changed 
from a movement of protest to a direct challenge to con- 
servative association. 


THE DEPARTMENT'S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE NEW UNION 


The formation of the Federation attracted wide attention. 
Newspapers and magazines throughout the country com- 
mented upon it, and the comment was on the whole most 
favorable. ‘The Postmaster General, Mr. Cortelyou, issued 
a statement to the press, saying: 


“Employees can form all the unions they desire, there 
is nothing in the civil service regulations to prevent 
them, but it is understood that the Department will 
insist on loyal service from each employee as an in- 
dividual and without any thought of his affiliation with 
any organization.””® 


At the same time Mr. Frank H. Hitchcock, then the First 
Assistant Postmaster General, issued the following state- 
ment: 


“There is no postal regulation which prohibits the 
employees of the Department from joining organiza- 
tions of this kind (unions), but there is an Executive 


26 The charter locals were Chicago, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Louisville, Salt 
Lake City, Nashville, and Muscogee. 

27 Postal Review (1916), p. 12. Statement by Edw. B. Goltra, chairman of 
organizing committee. 

28 Late in the summer ef 19@6, Secretary McGee of the U. N. A. P. @. C. wrete 
to Secretary Morrison of the American Federation of Labor, saying that his organ- 
ization would consider affiliation at its coming convention at Savannah, Ga., in 
September. The convention rejected the proposition and passed a resolution of 
protest over the insurance of a charter to the National Federation of Post 
Office Clerks. See Postal Clerk, October, 1906, pp. 79-80. 

29 Congressional Record (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 10733. 


110 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Order, issued January 31, 1902, which directs that 
employees of the Government shall neither directly or 
indirectly, through associations, make any attempt to 
have their rate of compensation increased.’’*° 


In his report for the previous year (1905), when the 
question had been brought. to the fore by Mr. Bristow’s 
attitude, Postmaster General Cortelyou dwelt at some 
length on employee organizations and set forth the Depart- 
ment’s position regarding them as follows:* 


“Organizations having for their objects social en- 
joyment, mutual aid or improvement, or the better- 
ment of the service, may be unobjectionable or even 
desirable, provided they are not so conducted as to 
lead to waste of time and energy needed for perform- 
ance of official duties.” 


A few months before Mr. Cortelyou had told a conven- 
tion of second and third class postmasters:* 


“Organizations within the Department in order to 
receive its sanction in any degree, must have for their 
object improvements in the service or be of a purely 
fraternal or beneficial character. With any other pur- 
pose in view they are detrimental to the service, their 
members and the public .. . 

‘““. . It must be clearly understood that the officials 
of the Department and not the officials or members 
of any organization, are the proper persons to present 
the Department’s needs to Congress.” 


This was but a definitive statement of the Department’s 
traditional position which the attitude of its officers, the 
order of 1895,°* and the Roosevelt ‘‘gag-order” had already 
served to make clear. The Department had no objection 
to employee associations, unions or any other type as long 
as they did nothing in particular or nothing to which the 
heads of the service objected. The statements which greeted 
the formation of the national union merely reemphasized 
that po8ition. 

30 Same. 
81 Report of the Oe General, 1905, p. 12. 


32 Same, pp. 12-1 
38 Above, pp. 85-6. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 111 


THE MEANING OF THE FEDERATION MOVEMENT 


Still, the very fact that special notice was taken showed 
that the administration looked upon the Federation as a 
movement different from other postal organizations, and 
that they saw in it a challenge to the conciliatory tactics 
of the older associations. The formation of the Federation 
was a declaration of independence of departmental tutelage. 
It was equivalent to the service of notice that one group of 
postal workers, at least, preferred to seek improved con- 
ditions through the help of their fellow wage-earners in 
industry, rather than to wait upon the good will of the 
executive authorities, or to depend entirely upon the plea- 
sure of legislative friends. 

Experience had taught these civil servants that Congress 
legislates only under pressure and that department heads 
were not any too likely to bring adequate pressure to bear 
to push remedial employee legislation through to passage. 
Administrative officers are as a rule more interested in 
making records, usually for economy, than in looking out 
for their employees’ welfare. Workers who depend solely 
on the Department’s good will for relief are likely to find 
themselves rewarded with limitless good will but with little 
relief. So, in 1905, when the organizations were working 
for reclassification and increased salaries, the Postmaster 
General met their requests with: “While the present con- 
dition of government finance precludes me from making 
an immediate recommendation for increases in rates of 
compensation . . . I consider it only just to say that 
. . . L am convinced that in many cases the salaries of 
post office clerks and letter carriers, city and rural, are 
inadequate.”** 

The federationists realized that they could expect little 
improvement unless they were willing to bestir themselves 
to get it. The “gag-rule” made it impossible for the older 
organizations to do very much in the way of such necessary 
bestirring. 

As the national president explained in a statement of 
the union’s policy and purpose,*® the organization was “in 
no sense antagonistic to the heads of departments or estab- 
lished rules,” but, “if we cannot appeal to Congress in our 


% Report of the Postmaster General, 1905, p. 45. 
% Edw. B. Goltra in Postal Review, 1916, p. 23. 


112 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


own behalf, we must do so indirectly, and this we expect to 
do through the Legislative Committee of the American 
Federation of Labor and the various central bodies through- 
out the country.” In other words, the thing that made the 
new move necessary was the gag order which had not been 
as completely forgotten as the employees had thought in 
1902. | 

The formation of the Federation had a profound effect 
on the whole future history of the organized movement 
among public employees. It definitely lined up the official 
labor movement with the government worker, and it stood 
as an example and invitation to other public employees to 
line themselves up with labor. So far as the authorities 
were concerned, it gradually changed their hostility toward 
all employee organizations to a particular hostility against 
organizations with labor affiliations. It is interesting to 
note that at the time of affiliation almost nothing was said 
of the possibility of a strike in the government service, 
partly perhaps because it was taken for granted, and partly 
because it was thought out of question. The Federation’s 
constitution was silent on the subject. 


BEGINNINGS OF “ANTI-GAG” AGITATION 


The union movement was to an extent the culmination 
of a growing feeling against the Roosevelt order. But even 
before the formation of the union the American Federation 
of Labor had demanded the restoration of civil rights to 
federal workers. At its convention in 1905 it resolved that 
public employees maintain all their rights of citizenship and 
that they would receive the aid and support of the Amer- 
ican Federation of Labor in the fullest exercise of their 
right to organize for political and economic purposes.*® A 
protest against the gag-rule was included in “Labor’s Bill 
of Grievances” which the Federation’s council, led by Mr. 
Gompers, presented to the President and Congress in March, 
1906.*7 As long as the gag stood, the memorial declared, 
“the constitutional right of citizens to petition must be sur- 
rendered by the government employee in order to retain 
his employment.” The Federation of Labor tried to make 


8 American Federation of Labor: Proceedings, 1905, p. 115. 
37 Same, 1906, p. 77. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 1138 


the Roosevelt order an issue in the Congressional campaign 
of 1906, but without much success. 

During the first four years of its standing the “gag” order 
was not always enforced with uniform vigor. In fact, it 
was often violated or ignored with impunity, sometimes for 
long periods. But each stretch of laxity was followed by 
a period of rigorous enforcement, usually accompanied by 
suspensions and removals, which always added to the dis- 
- content of the workers. 


THE REVISED “‘GAG-ORDER”’ 


In January, 1906, President Roosevelt emphatically called 
attention to the order by re-issuing it strengthened and 
amended, so as to be sure to include every one in its scope. 
In its revised form the order read: 


“All officers and employees of the United States of 
every description, serving in or under any of the 
Executive Departments or independent Government 
establishments, and whether so serving in or out of 
Washington, are hereby forbidden, either directly or 
indirectly, individually or through associations, to 
solicit an increase of pay or to influence or attempt 
to influence in their own interest any other legislation 
whatever, either before Congress or its Committees, or 
in any way save through the heads of the Departments 
or independent Government establishments, in or under 
which they serve, on penalty of dismissal from the 
Government service. 


The White House, 
January 25, 1906. 


“'THEODORE ROOSEVELT.” 


Less than two months prior to this revised “gag-order” 
President Roosevelt changed the Civil Service Rules so as 
to permit the President or the head of a department to 
remove employees without notice.** Previously the regula- 
tions governing removals had not only required “reasons 
given in writing,” but also that the reasons be stated. with 
“sufficient definiteness” to enable the employee concerned 
to make “‘proper answer.’’®® 


88 Twenty-third Report, U. S. Civil Service Commission, 1906, p. 75. 
*° Twenty-first Report, U. 8. Civil Service Commission, 1904, pp. 69-70. 


114 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


HITCHCOCK, THE CARRIERS AND THE RECLASSIFICATION 
oF 1907 


By the end of 1906 unfavorable conditions and inadequate — 
pay began to tell seriously on the service. Labor turnover, 
especially in the clerical branch, was exceedingly heavy. 
During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1906, twelve per 
cent of the clerks resigned. The first quarter of the next 
period, ending September 30, 1906, showed that the number 
of clerks’ resignations totaled to 18 per cent, while the 
figures for the next month, October, totaled to 20.8 per 
cent.*° In Chicago there were 550 resignations in six 
months.** Civil service secretaries and examiners from all 
parts of the country wrote to Washington saying that it 
was impossible to get men to take clerks’ examinations be- 
cause there was no real salary classification and no promise 
of promotion. Clerks entered the service at that time at 
$50 a month and it was as necessary to have political influ- 
ence to obtain promotion as it had been before the Civil 
Service Law.*? 

The situation was so serious that First Assistant Post- 
master General Hitchcock drafted a reclassification bill 
and presented it to Congress when it met in December, 1906. 
This bill applied to clerks and city carriers alike. It pro- 
vided six grades: $600, $800, $900, $1,000, $1,100, and 
$1,200, with annual automatic promotions up to the $900 
gerade at second and $1,000 grade at first class offices. 

According to the statement of Oscar F. Nelson, president 
of the Clerks’ Federation, to the Civil Service Committee 
of the House of Representatives, Mr. Hitchcock, after 
having drawn this bill, sent for the president of the Clerks’ 
Association and said: “It is not going to be what the boys 
want, but it is the best that we can do for them, and I want 
you to see that the clerks of the country are satisfied with 
the classification recommended by the Department.’ 

This bill did less for the carriers than for the clerks, since 
the classification under which the former were then working 
provided for automatic promotions up to the $1,000 grade. 
Their fight for years had been for such promotions up to a 
$1,200 grade. When a Department refused to include this 


Postal Review (1916), 

me nite Hearings on Leva ell (1911-12), p. 137. 
am 

#8 House Hearings on Lloyd Bill (1911-12), p. 138. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 115 


recommendation, President James Holland of the National 
Association came to Washington to induce Congress to 
amend the bill as the carriers desired. This was a viola- 
tion of the “gag-order,”’ and when First Assistant Hitchcock 
heard of Holland’s activity he immediately ordered him to 
return to his post of duty. But Holland was loath to leave 
the interests of the carriers without a spokesman at the 
Capital. At his request some Congressmen went to Hitch- 
cock and asked that he be allowed to remain in Washing- 
ton. The First Assistant then sent for Holland and told 
him that he would allow him to remain in town on the one 
condition that he would not be a candidate for reelection 
to the national presidency of the Carriers’ Association. 
Holland agreed and was allowed to remain in the city to 
work for his organization’s amendment. 

The reclassification bill which became law on March 2, 
1907, and became effective the first of July following, was 
the Hitchcock measure so amended as to provide for auto- 
matic promotions up to the $1,000 grade at second and to 
the $1,100 grade at first class offices. The highest grades 
($1,100 and $1,200, respectively) were rewards for meritori- 
ous service.** 

The clerks and carriers were exceedingly grateful to 
Hitchcock for the part he played in securing the passage 
of the law, and both the Unapoc and the Carriers’ Associa- 
tion asked him to attend their conventions that year. The 
carriers met at Canton, Ohio. When the First Assistant 
arrived at the gathering and found the delegates unanimous 
in their endorsement of President Holland, he immediately 
ordered Holland’s suspension from the service. 

The delegates gave Mr. Hitchcock a rousing reception 
when he entered the convention hall. It is said when he 
mounted the platform to address the gathering that he 
openly snubbed President Holiand.*® In the course of his 
address he made the following significant remarks regard- 
ing the Association: 


“T know what a tremendous influence it can wield 
for the betterment of the service, provided its activities 
are directed along proper lines, and I want to impress 


4424 Stat., 1206. 
& Hearings cited, p. 138. 


116 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


you gentlemen, you members of the Association, with 
the importance of having your organization so con- 
ducted that it will meet with the hearty approval and 
support of the Department. The Department is your 
best friend and I believe you are beginning to realize 
it. The Department is at all times working for your 
welfare. We officers of the Department and your own 
special leaders are striving for the same object, and we 
ought to be working together in perfect harmony and 
accord.’’#6 


Then Mr. Hitchcock went on to speak of the national 
secretary who “represented the Association so ably and so 
acceptably,” in terms of heartiest approval and warmest 
praise. Of President Holland he said never a word. 

Every one saw at once that Mr. Hitchcock’s speech was 
intended as a rebuke to the national president and that 
his lavish praise of Secretary Cantwell, even though he 
was and still is one of the most tactful and one of the ablest 
of employee leaders, was intended not so much as a compli- 
ment to him as an expression of disapproval of President 
Holland. 

At the close of the session the delegates, of course, wanted 
to know the reason for the First Assistant’s unfriendliness. 
Holland then recalled his promise not to be a candidate for 
reelection. The delegates held a caucus and, although they 
had been overwhelmingly in favor of the president’s reten- 
tion in office, they decided that, under the circumstances, 
it was best for him to withdraw. They felt that it was 
absolutely necessary for the Association to have the good 
will of the Department, for with the Roosevelt order in 
force and without outside help to fall back upon they could 
set nothing without it. The Department thus succeeded in 
crushing all show of independence on the part of the letter 
carriers’ organization. It had the Association where it 
wanted it. 

The next few years saw the growth of unprecedented 
unrest among postal workers centering primarily about the 
gag-order. But in this “anti-gag” agitation the Letter 
Carriers’ Association took little or no part. It dwelt rather 
on the necessity of harmonious relations with the authori- 


46 Postal Record, October, 1907, p. 240. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE “GAG-RULE” 117 


ties, and accepted the executive order as a regular rule of 
civil employment. On several occasions carrier otticers 
declared that they were trying in every way to carry on 
their work within its terms and not a word was said as to 
the advisability of its repeal. 


Cuapter VIII 
THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 


Discontent among the employees affected every branch 
of the postal service during the years 1908 to 1912. The 
unrest was most acute in the railway mail service, the 
most important branch of the postal system and often 
referred to as the “back-bone of the postal establishment.” 
This service is concerned with the carriage of the mail from 
point to point on the railroads and with its distribution 
en route or in terminals. About ninety per cent, by weight, 
of the entire mails of the country pass through the hands 
of this branch. 


THE WORK OF RAILWAY POSTAL CLERKS 


Its employees are the most highly trained in postal 
service. They do most of their work on the trains under 
enormous pressure and high nervous tension. A railway 
postal clerk starting on his route, which usually covers a 
number of states, has a batch of mail assigned to him for 
“distribution” or sorting. He is required to know all of 
the post offices in the area of his distribution as well as the 
railway lines to which mail for those offices shall be thrown. 
The number of offices run anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000. 
There are few crafts or trades which require quite as much 
of their members. The Department insists that these clerks 
keep themselves at a point of highest efficiency. It keeps 
tab on them through frequent tests on which a minimum 
grade of 971% per cent is required. And the average railway 
mail clerk actually attains a grade above 99 per cent.? 

The Department has at all times kept closest watch on 
the organization activities of these workers. It has always 
attempted to keep their organizations well in hand and to 
crush any movement which did not meet with its approval. 

1 Post Office Department Reports (Postmaster General), 1921, p. 58. 
2See Roper, Daniel C.: The United States Post Office (1917), p. 1338. 
118 


THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 119 


The first concerted movement among these employees 
was as early as 1886. It was of political color and it met 
with severe displeasure. On March 4, 1885, a Democratic 
Congress and administration came into power after a term 
of Republican ascendency. Rumors immediately started 
that wholesale dismissals for political reasons would shortly 
be made, and that the railway mail service, because of 
the fact that its employees received a little better pay than 
the rest of the Post Office Department, would be especially 
hard hit. Two thousand Republican railway postal clerks, 
the rumors ran, were slated to lose their places. Unrest 
became so great that the Postmaster General, Wm. F. Vilas, 
was moved to issue a special notice on tenure of office, 
March 31, 1885, which ran: 


“Railway postal clerks who have become efficient 
and valuable men, against whom no just complaint of 
neglect, inattention, or want of fidelity, honesty, or 
inefficiency can be brought and who have not turned 
their attentions to political labors during their service, 
need have no fear of being disturbed so long as they 
continue to render meritorious and faithful service.’* 


But to any one who knew the government service, espe- 
cially at that time, the “special notice” meant little. It 
was clear that it would not be hard for the administration 
a keep within its letter and still make all the changes it 
chose. 

As a matter of fact, numbers of removals actually took 
place. A number of Republican clerks, in order to protect 
themselves in their positions, banded together in an organ- 
ization known as the Brotherhood of Railway Mail Postal 
Clerks. As soon as this action came to the attention of the 
Post Office Department, it dismissed about forty of the 
organizers in a single day, and before the organization was 
finally crushed, more than eighty of its leading members 
were separated from the service.t Much may be said in 
justification of the Department. Partisan political move- 
ments within the civil service are unwise, even though their 
purpose be to counteract official attacks on the merit sys- 
tem. If this Brotherhood had been an organization of all 


% See White, James E.: A Life Span and Reminiscences of Railway Mail 
Service, pp. 27-28. 
« House Hearings on Lloyd Bill (1911-12), p. 60. 


120 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


clerks to protect themselves in their positions against par- 
tisan removals, there could have been no objection to it, 
but as an organization of clerks of a given party it was 
another matter. 


THE R. M. S. CLERKS ORGANIZE 


Until a comparatively few years ago service in the rail- 
way mail branch required, in addition to all that has been 
mentioned, the risks that go with work in a hazardous occu- 
pation. In the six years from 1887 to 1892 there were 1,610 
railway mail casualties, forty-one of which were deaths.® 
The risks of the service were so great that it was impossible 
for the clerks to obtain insurance at rates within their 
reach. There had been a society, the United States Raii- 
way Mail Service Mutual Benefit Association, in the service 
since 1874, but it was only a death benefit association and 
failed to meet all the insurance needs of the men. 

In 1891 the R. M. S. Bugle,® a magazine “devoted to the 
interests of railway postal clerks and the Railway Mail 
Service,” published a call for a national convention of rail- 
way mail employees. As a result of this gathering at Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, in July, 1891, a National Association of 
Railway Postal Clerks was formed “for the purpose of per- 
mitting a closer social relationship, and to better enable 
them [the clerks] to perfect any movement that may be 
for their benefit as a class, or for the benefit of the Railway 
Mail Service.’ 

For the first few years the Association was largely social 
in character. In 1897 it established its insurance depart- 
ment to meet what was perhaps the most urgent need of the 
clerks. From then on the organization devoted most of its 
energies to building up and strengthening this phase of its 
work, and it soon became one of the most successful of 
mutual benefit societies. Its activities as a labor organiza- 
tion were few and not very persistent or energetic. How- 
ever, within two months after its formation, the national 
officers went to Washington to cooperate with the adminis- 
tration in securing the passage of an act reclassifying the 
service. But for years no legislation resulted. 

5 Cushing, Marshall: The Story of the American Post Office (1893), p. 88. 
6 Under the name of The Railway Mail this paper continued to exist down 


to 1918. 
7 Preamble to first constitution of Nationa] Association of Railway Postal Clerks. 


THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 121 


In 1904 the organization met at Boston and changed its 
name to the Railway Mail Association. It was noticed 
there that the number of serious service casualties was in- 
creasing at an alarming rate.§ This led to the launching 
of a campaign for steel railway post office cars. The organ- 
ization was most cautious and conservative in urging its 
program. It was primarily a mutual benefit association. 
Its efforts for the improvement of service and working con- 
ditions were made always in closest conjunction with the 
postal authorities. Nothing was ever undertaken of which 
they disapproved, or which would be likely to offend them. 


THE INSURGENT MOVEMENT OF 1905-1907 


By 1905 a great deal of dissatisfaction had developed, 
especially in the West, with these conciliatory and con- 
servative tactics. That year, John A. Kidwell, who had 
been the national president of the Association since 1902, 
gave voice to this sentiment in his address to the national 
convention at Cincinnati. He criticized the policies of the 
Department and urged that the Railway Mail Association 
adopt a more positive and aggressive attitude in dealing 
with the authorities.° President Kidwell tried to carry his 
policy into effect but the administration disapproved of his 
tactics. The organization fell from official grace. The con- 
cessions and favors which the authorities had hitherto been 
willing to grant now ceased to be forthcoming.?® Kidwell 
became persona non grata at the Department. Finally his 
hands were tied by an order of the General Superintendent 
of the railway mail service which made it impossible for 
officers of the Association to visit Washington on organiza- 
tion work or business without first obtaining permission 
from the Department. At the same time the Roosevelt 
“gag” cuaranteed the administration’s control of the situa- 
tion by enabling it to prevent appeals to Congress. The 
next year the Association held its convention at Chicago. 
But dissatisfaction with Association policy was by no means 
ended. 

A group of Los Angeles clerks, who stood even farther to 


8 Table of Railway Mail Service Casualties, 1875-1905, inclusive; ‘‘Postal Salaries,” 
79 


Py Railway Post Office, October, 1905, pp. 9-11. fae 
10 See letter of former President J. T. Canfield of the Railway Mail Association 
to Urban A. Walter in the Harpoon, September, 1909, p. 29. 


122 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


the left than the Kidwell faction, organized a new associa- 
tion, which they called the Brotherhood of Railway Postal 
Clerks, with locals in their city and in San Francisco. But 
before the group had really got under way, the Department 
dismissed its leader, a clerk named Schaug, and put an end 
to the whole movement.!: This was in 1907. 

But progressive agitation did not cease even then. When 
the Railway Mail Association met in convention a few 
months later at Fort Worth, Texas, Carl C. Van Dyke, a 
clerk from Minnesota, charged that the organization was 
lax in attempting to protect the rights and welfare of the 
members for fear that it would incur the displeasure of 
the Department. Van Dyke’s efforts to free the Associa- 
tion from the Department domination were carried on before 
the resolutions committee, and no echo of them reached 
the convention floor. This was, however, merely the begin- 
ning of Van Dyke’s agitation for a more militant organiza- 
tion policy. 

Events moved quickly in the years following these epi- 
sodes. Service conditions, both in the post offices and on 
the trains, were steadily going from bad to worse, while 
the “gag” effectively prevented the employees from making 
their grievances known. | 


THE BUNDY RECORDER 


In December of 1908 the Seattle local of the National 
Federation of Post Office Clerks, risking departmental dis- 
pleasure and perhaps severe punishment, carried resolutions 
of sharp protest against the Roosevelt order through the 
city central labor body. Two months later the local started 
the publication of a little paper, the Post Office Bundy 
Recorder, carrying the motto: “For Freedom and for Equal 
Laws.” This little journal devoted most of its space to 
propaganda for the removal of the restrictions on the civil 
and political rights of civil servants. It ran a column called 
“He Criticized the Administration” which usually quoted 
verbatim from the Civil Service Commission’s reports on 
removals for ‘political activity” and interjected between 
every few paragraphs “He Criticized the Administration! 
Think of it! He Criticized the Administration!” A “free 


11 House Hearings on the Lloyd Bill, p. 60, 


THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 123 


speech edition” was issued in August, 1909, which contained 
an able discussion attempting to show the illegality of the 
“ac” and other civil service regulations tending to limit 
the political freedom of federal employees. The circula- 
tion of the Bundy Recorder was but 400 or 500 and was 
confined almost entirely to post office clerks in the State 
of Washington. But it was not long before some folks out- 
side of the clerical body began to show an ever-increasing 
interest in it. They read it thoroughly and noted its con- 
tents with care. As a result of their interest, H. M. Wells, 
the editor, received the following note: 


“You are hereby allowed three days to show cause 
why you should not be removed from the Postal Service 
for insubordination, disrespect to your superior officers, 
and for inciting, or intending to incite, discontent and 
disorganization among your fellow employees; this by 
means of articles written by you and published under 
your name in the Post Office Bundy Recorder, pub- 
lished at Seattle, Washington.” 


This note was signed by one C. L. Wayland, Post Office 
Inspector. Not long afterwards Wells was removed from 
the service, and the Post Office Bundy Recorder ceased to be. 

One of the items in that paper to which the inspector 
took exception appeared in the July, 1909, issue: 


“Every railway postal clerk whose eyes fall on this 
page is urged to subscribe for the Harpoon, a little 
magazine just started in Phoenix, Arizona, by Urban 
A. Walter, an ex-clerk. We shall have more to say 
about this magazine later. It is good.” 


URBAN A. WALTER AND THE HARPOON 


The Urban A. Walter referred to had contracted tuber- 
culosis after having worked for several years in the rail- 
way mail service and had been obliged to give up work 
and go to Phoenix, Arizona. For eight months the Depart- 
ment had granted him a succession of thirty days’ leave 
without pay. At the end of that period, in June, 1909, 
Walter sent this letter to the Postmaster General: 


124 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Phoenix, Arizona, 
May 29, 1909. 


“Mr, F. H. Hitchcock, | 
“Postmaster General, Washington, D. C. 

“Please find inclosed, under registered mail, an ad- 

vance copy of the first issue of the Harpoon. Permit 

me to say that it will be well worth your while to care- 

fully peruse this issue: I wish especially that you 

would study the cartoon, and also read the opposite 

page, entitled ‘Silenced.’ Don’t neglect to read the 

article in regard to ‘Tank and Can’ and, if there be 

any libel in any of the articles contained in this first 

issue, I trust that you will not neglect to take the 

matter up at once. 

“Very truly yours, 
“URBAN A. WALTER, 
“Editor, Harpoon.” 


The receipt of this note was acknowledged in the form 
of an official order informing Walter that his resigna- 
tion, which had never been formally tendered, had been 
accepted.” 

The Harpoon, which seemed to meet with so little official 
favor, was a little pamphlet about six inches by eight. 
Diagonally across its outer cover was the design of a 
harpoon under which appeared the legend, “A Magazine 
that Hurts,” while on its inner title page there read almost 
like a “scare head”: Strike? NO!—Publicity? YES!* Its 
announced purpose was to “kill the gag” and to expose 
unrelentingly all that the gag kept hidden in the shape of 
official abuses and deplorable conditions under which the 
men worked. Bitter, scathing, unsparing and sensational 
in method the paper always was, but it was also, and above 
all, always intelligent. It shook the bureaucracy out of its 
comfortable rut, it goaded on the all too “diplomatic” and 
respectful leaders of the Railway Mail Association, and 
gave strength and encouragement to the progressive move- 

12 Hearings: House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads. Post Office 
Appropriation Bill for 1913; January, 1912, pp. 519, 540. 

18 Throughout its career, 1909-1917, the Harpoon appeared in several different 
rmake-ups ; first as a little pamphlet, next in the form of a newspaper, then as a 


magazine about 8 by 12 inches with a cartoon cover or striking cover comments, 
and finally as a staid and dignified trade union journal. 


THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 125 


ment within its ranks, and finally, both directly and through 
the general press, it roused the public and Congress to a 
realization of service conditions. In its third month it re- 
ceived more than one thousand favorable newspaper notices. 
By the time the anti-gag campaign reached its height, the 
paper had 12,000 regular subscribers in the railway mail 
service and about the same number outside of that service, 
especially among newspapers and agencies which could help 
to give publicity to its cause. 

The Harpoon made its appearance at a time when dis- 
content in the entire postal service was rapidly becoming 
acute and at a time when the minds of the officials were 
much disturbed by the general postal strike which had just 
taken place in France. Many papers and prominent citi- 
zens began to assert that the right of civil servants to 
organize was a danger to the state and to urge that the 
right be limited or curtailed. 

A number of organization officers who were in Washing- 
ton in disregard of the executive order were suddenly 
ordered home under charges. This action was taken on 
complaint of the Chairman of the House Post Office Com- 
mittee, Representative Overstreet, who, it is said, charged 
the employees with having made political threats against 
him. 


CONDITIONS IN THE CHICAGO POST OFFICE 1909-10 


Shortly after this Oscar F. Nelson, president of the Chi- 
cago Post Office Clerks’ Union, introduced resolutions in 
the Chicago Federation of Labor protesting against the long 
hours which postal clerks were obliged to work, because the 
Department, in its efforts to economize, would appoint no 
additional clerks in spite of the fact that the law authorized 
the appointment of 2,000.14 Copies of these resolutions 
were forwarded to the Postmaster General and the First 
Assistant. This step was taken only after repeatedly unsuc- 
cessful attempts to secure additional help. Throughout the 
months of July, August and September, 1909, the clerks of 
the mailing and city divisions, the sections of the Chicago 
office employing the majority of the clerical force, were 
working on a ten-hour schedule. Most of the men concerned 
were employed at night. The strain began to tell on their 

144 House Hearings on the Lloyd Bill (1911-12), p. 118. 


126 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


health. The postmaster was appealed to for relief. But 
in spite of his sympathy and assurances no action could be 
obtained.?® 

But it was not only the length of service, but the con- 
ditions under which they worked, which was causing great 
unrest at Chicago. Sanitary conditions were disgraceful. 
In October Nelson smuggled four sanitarians, members of 
the Illinois State Commission on Occupational Diseases, 
into the post office at ten o’clock one night and took them 
on a tour of inspection. They found the situation exceed- 
ingly bad and so reported to the postal authorities. Months 
passed and nothing was done. The superintendent of the 
Chicago Tuberculosis Institute, a member of the Commis- 
sion, said that there was not a concern in Chicago where 
such conditions existed and that, in his opinion, no private 
employer could permit such conditions in his establishment 
and escape prosecution.#® And this was true of both the 
main office and branch stations. 

Finally, after eight months of official inaction, the situa- 
tion got into the papers.’7 And a shocking account it was. 
In the six months prior to the publication of the story, a 
period in which facts and reports of the unofficial inves- 
tigators had been known to the authorities, four members 
of the Chicago Post Office Clerks’ Union had died of tuber- 
culosis contracted in the course of their employment, while 
four more were ill from the same cause. The doctor who 
investigated the ventilating system declared that it could 
not have been worse, while methods of dusting fell far short 
of the necessary requirements. Mail bags drawn over rail- 
way station platforms in all parts of the country, gathering 
disease germs, were never disinfected or cleaned. Yet they 
were handled by hundreds of clerks. The dust from them 
fell in a thick coating all over the distributing cases at 
which the men worked. The same drinking cup was used 
by hundreds of persons. No attempt was made to furnish 
the employees with an ample towel supply. The city mail- 
ing division was furnished with wooden boxes filled with 
sawdust for cuspidors, and no attempt was made to keep 
them clean. The head of the Tuberculosis Institute said 
that he had no hesitancy in tracing the many cases of con- 


15 Hearing cited, pp. 123-4 16 Hearing cited, 127. 
17 Chicago Record- Herald, May 23 and 24, 1910; Chicago eee) May 9, 1910. 


THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 127 


sumption brought to his attention directly to the conditions 
under which the men were forced to work. 

Just a month after accounts of these conditions got into 
the daily papers, Oscar F. Nelson was directed by the post 
office inspectors to show cause why he should not be re- 
moved from the service for violations of the “gag” order. 
Three charges were made against him: (1) that he sought 
indirectly through the Legislative Committee of the Amer- 
ican Federation of Labor to influence legislation for post 
office clerks; (2) that he introduced the overtime protest in 
the Chicago Federation of Labor; (8) that he furnished 
information to the press so that articles appeared in the 
daily papers reflecting on the administration of the post 
office at Chicago.1* Some weeks later Nelson was removed. 

How the Department, under the circumstances, could 
have acted with less tact and wisdom it is difficult to 
imagine, even though Nelson were, in spite of his denials, 
guilty of every charge preferred. But the policy of these 
feverish days seems to have been to “get the agitator” at 
all costs no matter how severe was the grievance of the 
force. The members of the National Federation of Post 
Office Clerks took the first opportunity that offered itself 
to express their temper by electing Nelson to their national 
presidency. 


THE INTOLERABLE SITUATION IN THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 


Even worse than the situation in the Chicago post office 
were the conditions in the railway mail service. The state 
of affairs on some lines was no less than disgraceful. It is 
safe to say that almost any group of private employees 
would have struck long before their conditions of work had 
reached such a pass. Yet this intolerable situation had been 
a fact for some time past and had about reached its height 
in the summer of 1909 when Urban A. Walter first began 
to publish the Harpoon and “‘to let the calcium go” on those 
abuses which the “gag” orders kept the clerks from reveal- 
ing to Congress and the public. The complaint of the 
workers was no less serious than that they were obliged 
to risk their health and lives in mail cars which were unsani- 
tary and unsafe. 

Nearly all of the post office cars in the service in the 

18 Hearings cited, pp. 117-119. 


128 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


summer of 1909 were of wooden construction and there were 
as many as 3860 full railway post office cars ten years old 
and over which had never been rebuilt.1® The mail car was 
nearly always placed in the most dangerous part of the 
train, between the locomotive and the baggage car which 
was often of steel. Most of the wooden mail cars were 
many years old. Those in general use west of the Missis- 
Sippi were usually ten years old or more.2° Other railroad 
equipment, especially on the great trunk lines, was of more 
recent construction, and every year saw coaches, Pullmans 
and engines grow larger and heavier. Postal cars which, no 
doubt, were strong enough at the time they were built were 
becoming less and less fit for service under more modern 
railroad conditions. 

The result was the report of wreck after wreck telling the 
same story of the wooden mail car being crushed like a 
strawberry box between the heavy engine and the heavy 
line of cars. When the clerks suggested that wooden mail 
cars run in steel trains be placed at the end of the train, 
the railroads informed them that this could not be done 
beeause it would block the view from the observation plat- 
form. 

A more than usual number of bad wrecks occurred during 
the fiscal year beginning in July, 1909. A greater number 
of railway mail employees were killed than ever before. 
The casualties of the year numbered 742, of whom 617 were 
slightly injured, while 98 were seriously injured and 27 
were killed.?4 

On some lines some of the old cars were in such bad con- 
dition that it was shameful to require men to go out in 
them. In July, 1907, a clerk, James A. Whalen, narrowly 
escaped death by having the pouch “catcher” give way in 
the rotten door frame of his car. He reported the case to 
the authorities and sent along with his report a sample of 
the rotten wood picked from the car wall with his ‘fingers. 
Three years later, in June, 1910, this same man sent the 
authorities similar samples also taken with his fingers from 
the same car and another in which he had done service. 


19 Hearings: House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, December, 1910, 
290. 


20 House Hearings on Lloyd Bill (1911-12), 175. 
21 Hearings: House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, December, 1910, 
p. 311. 


p. 


\ 


THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 129 


The first car had been on the line ever since the accident 
three years before except for one or two brief intervals 
when it was sent to the shop to be repainted.”* 

Similar cases of cars in dilapidated condition were re- 
ported officially, time and time again, with little result. 
One instance reported was that of a car on a run out of 
St. Paul, Minnesota, which had been on the line for years 
with a roof so loose that not only did rain and cinders come 
through it freely, but with the car in motion it would sway 
back and forth so that it often looked as though it were 
about to fall. And there were also reports of cars with 
wall seams so torn that with the jolting of the train they 
would spread widely enough for the clerks to catch glimpses 
of sky through the opening cracks. 

In addition to its dangers this condition of the cars made 
it more difficult for the men to work and interfered in good 
measure with their efficiency. Poor lighting made things 
even worse for the men obliged to work at night. On many 
of the runs about which this complaint was made, the entire 
train, with the exception of the mail cars, was electrically 
lighted. But postal clerks were obliged to do their work 
by the light of old-fashioned oil lamps often in poor repair 
and furnished in insufficient number. 

To these grievances were added serious complaints in 
various parts of the country as to the sanitary conditions 
of the cars. Often they were not swept or cleaned for long 
periods. Toilets, not enclosed in closets but situated in the 
open car, were equipped with neither flushing nor disin- 
fecting devices. Drinking-water coolers, in many instances 
situated above the open, and all too often filthy, hoppers, 
were left uncleaned for trip after trip. The ice and water, 
instead of being kept separate as the sanitary codes of many 
states required of railroads in their jurisdiction, were thrown 
into the tank together. If the ice had been clean this would 
not have been so bad, but as a rule the ice used was taken 
from lakes, large sloughs or ponds. When the lump melted 
the weeds and grass and dirt which had been frozen into 
it would be left as settlings in the water. 

In the summer of 1909 the condition of the drinking- 
water coolers was brought to attention in a most sensa- 
tional manner. A clerk in Texas sent the Harpoon a bottle 

= House Hearings on Lloyd Bill (1911-12), p. 170. 


130 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


containing the carcass of a rat which he had found in the 
water tank in his car.2? When called to account for giving 
the incident publicity in violation of the postal regulations, 
the man explained: 


“T did not report this in the prescribed way because 
I knew nothing would be accomplished by it. I think 
my method will accomplish more for the health of the 
15,000 postal clerks of the United States than any 
other method would have done.”24 


This case, true enough, was extreme and unrepresentative. 
But that made it no less disgraceful. When the Department 
finally removed the offending clerk, it merely aggravated 
the situation. 

The Railway Mail Association called attention to these 
abuses in a polite, dignified and thoroughly “proper” way, 
but its efforts met with little satisfaction or success. How 
long these evils would have gone on unchecked had not the 
Harpoon come into the field, it is impossible to say. Urban 
A. Walter came along just when the situation seemed most 
hopeless. Month after month he told the story of con- 
ditions, and told it in the most striking, dramatic and sensa- 
tional way, sparing no detail, however revolting, attacking 
with equal vigor the neglect of the railroads and of the 
government, letting no official, from the President of the 
United States down, escape his censure. 

The immediate result of the first months of the Harpoon’s 
campaign was to give confidence to clerks who had here- 
tofore been timid and to encourage those who had been 
silent to talk and make complaint. But while the paper 
never forgot the physical abuses of the service, it never 
ceased to hammer the fact that the worst abuse of all was 
the denial of civil rights through the “gag-order.” 


THE ‘WRECK-GAG” 


The tongues of the workers were tied not merely by the 
executive order which stopped appeals to Congress, but by 
a departmental order which prevented their giving publicity 
to the conditions under which they worked. This order was 
issued on August 17, 1906, to furnish the Department with 


23 Harpoon, July, August, and September, 1909. 
24 Harpoon, September, 1909, p. 12. 


“THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 131 


a ruling under which to discipline an employee who, three 
weeks before, had written the Spokane, Washington, Spokes- 
man-Review criticizing the condition of the roadbed of the 
Great Northern Railway.?® The condition complained of 
was, according to the writer, the direct cause of a train 
wreck in which one of his comrades had been killed. This 
ruling of 1906, known in the service as the “wreck-gag,” 
had continued in force ever since its issue and formed the 
basis of widespread assertions of the Post Office Depart- 
ment’s subserviency to railroad interests. 


Office of Second Assistant Postmaster General, 
Washington, D. C., August 17, 1906. 

“Tt is deemed essential to the proper administration 
of public business that officers and employees of this 
office shall maintain respectful official relations with 
railroad companies and other carrying companies, as 
well as with their superior officers. Railway postal 
clerks must not engage in controversies with or criti- 
cisms of railroad officials involving the administration 
of the postal service by furnishing information to the 
newspapers or publicly discussing or denouncing the 
acts or omissions of such officials as affecting the postal 
service. Clerks violating this instruction will be sub- 
ject to discipline and possible removal from the service. 
All information, criticism, or complaint which clerks or 
officials can give from personal knowledge, or obtain 
from credible sources, looking to the betterment of the 
postal service and the comfort and safety of their 
persons while officially employed, should be forwarded 
through their superior officers in order that prompt 
investigation and proper action may be taken. 

“W. S. SHALLENBERGER, 
“Second Assistant Postmaster General.” 


Since unsafe and unsanitary cars were ‘“‘omissions” of the 
railroads, any postal employee giving publicity concerning 
them was subject to removal under this order. The men 
had good reason to doubt the efficacy of complaints made 
through official channels. The president of the Railway 

25 House Hearings on the Lloyd Bill (1911-12), pp. 168-9. 


182 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Mail Association, J. T. Canfield, candidly admitted in a 
letter to Walter: 


“T have seen all the evils of which you speak, have 
seen them develop and have tried to stop some of them, 
with but little success, I must say. I talked with Super- 
intendent Pepper about the insanitary condition of the 
water coolers and hoppers in our cars and got very 
little satisfaction from the conversation.’’® 


When a man with Canfield’s influence could do nothing, 
certainly the individual clerk might expect little satisfac- 
tion from his complaints. 


INEFFICACY OF INDIVIDUAL APPEALS TO THE DEPARTMENT 


Even in matters of utmost seriousness, recourse to the 
officials seemed to hold out little hope. For example, when 
a railway postal clerk in Texas wrote to his division super- 
intendent regarding a fellow clerk who had been killed in 
a car which had frequently been reported as unsafe, he was 
told that the Department had no control over the construc- 
tion of apartment post office cars and that all men who did 
not ‘‘care to assume the necessary risks had no place in the 
Railway Mail Service.’’? 


THE RAILROADS AND THE DEPARTMENT OBJECT TO COMPLAINTS 


As the Harpoon continued its campaign through the years 
1909 and 1910, supplementing its stories with pages of 
photographs of wrecked wooden mail cars, the roads as well 
as the postal administration began to chafe and to place 
obstacles in Walter’s way. Clerks were made to under- 
stand that the paper was in official disfavor and that it 
would not go well with those who were caught actively sup- 
porting it.?® 

Clerks who carried their complaints informally to rail- 
road officials in the hope of their receiving quicker attention 
were often reported to their supervisors as nuisances. There 
is an instance on record of a railroad official in charge of 


26 Quoted in the Harpoon, September, 1909, 28. 
27 Hearings: House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, January, 1912, 


p. ; 
28 Same, pp. 556-60. 


THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 133 


mail contracts at St. Paul, Minnesota, actually making a 
false report to the postal authorities to have them put a 
stop to the efforts of a mail clerk on one of his lines to 
obtain satisfactory working conditions. The Department 
acted on this false report by disciplining the clerk in ques- 
tion without ever having taken the trouble to make an 
investigation of its own. The railway officer stated over 
his signature that he had checked the report of his car fore- 
man as to a mail car’s satisfactory condition at a time when 
the car in question was more than 400 miles from the place 
where the inspection was said to have been made.”® 

The Harpoon’s publicity campaign and the alarming 
growth of unrest and discontent among the service per- 
sonnel resulted in the insertion of a proviso in the Post 
Office Appropriation Act, approved May 12, 1910, and effec- 
tive July 1, 1910, that no part of the money appropriated 
was to be paid for the rent or use of any railway post office 
ear which was not “sanitary and sound in material construc- 
tion.”°° The immediate effect of this act in some divisions 
was—strange as it may sound—the very opposite of what 
might have been expected, for it was often so stupidly 
administered as to cause increased dissatisfaction and dis- 
trust. Orders were issued requiring the clerks to certify as 
to the sanitary condition of their cars. By classifying as 
“sanitary” conditions which fell far short of generally 
accepted standards, postal officials often practically nulli- 
fied the purpose of the law.*t Repeatedly clerks had un- 
favorable reports returned to them with directions that they 
be changed to read: “Cars in sanitary condition.” ‘The 
Department’s purpose seemed to be to make the law con- 
form with the old and inadequate facilities furnished by 
the railroads rather than compel the roads, as the workers 
seemed to think the law required, to provide modern facili- 
ties. 

In the tenth division of the railway mail service the 
authorities went so far as to discourage employees from 
reporting as to conditions by issuing the following as a 
public order: 

29 House a on Lloyd Bill (1911-12), pp. 170-1. 


% 36 Stat 


31 Hearings: House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, January, 1912, 
pp. 546-53. 


134 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


BULLETIN 


Aberdeen, 8. Dakota, 
November 5, 1910. 
Instructions have been received from the superin- 
tendent to inform all clerks in this jurisdiction who are 
continually making exaggerated and unfounded reports 
regarding the physical conditions of their cars, that 
unless the practice is stopped, their reports will be 
referred to the department with recommendations not 
to their liking. 
Respectfully, | 
C. E. DENNISON, 
Chief Clerk. 


If this information had been conveyed privately to par- 
ticular offending clerks, no objection could have been raised, 
but when issued in a public bulletin, it could hardly have 
been interpreted as other than a “diplomatic” way of dis- 
couraging all complaints—especially in an employment like 
the government service where ‘“‘every one seems to be afraid 
of every one” and “the self-protective sense is developed 
abnormally.’’? 

The authorities were not in a pleasant mood. They were 
acting in the way those “in authority” usually act with the 
discontent of a subordinate force making their position dif- 
ficult. They were insisting on the exercises of their authority 
when it would have been wiser to exercise tact. A willingness 
to cooperate with the force, an honest effort to adjust com- 
plaints and improve the condition of the cars would have 
disarmed the Harpoon and the noisily discontented and 
have restored the morale of the service. True, the Second 
Assistant Postmaster General, Mr. Joseph Stewart, appeared 
before two successive conventions of the Railway Mail 
Association and informed the delegates that the clerks had 
the right of appeal in all cases even to the Second Assistant 
himself. Yet the organization and spirit of the service was 
such that few clerks dared to risk the ill will of their local 
chief clerks or supervisors. In spite of words to the con- 
trary, they had seen enough evidence of a tendency on the 
part of their local chiefs to discourage complaints, and they 


#2 From Franklin K. Lane’s statement on the government service. See New York 
Times, March 1, 1920., 


THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 135 


had seen headquarters at Washington ignore an appeal to 
the extent of not even acknowledging its receipt.?? The 
majority of clerks felt, and not without basis, that it was 
the policy of the Department to run things in its own way, 
without the cooperation of the rank and file and without 
regard to their complaints and grievances. 


THE WAYS OF BUREAUCRACY INCREASE THE FRICTION 


This was the attitude of the Department in all things, 
including such every-day matters of administration as 
promotions, transfers, and discipline. Things were done 
in an almost military way. Orders went out from the top 
and were administered by the officials below. The lesser 
supervisors were not taken into the confidence of those in 
general charge, while the rank and file hardly dared to ask 
questions for fear of incurring official displeasure. 

One administrative matter which caused a tremendous 
amount of friction was an unaccountable lethargy on the 
part of the authorities in making promotions.** Advance- 
ments were often held up for months at a time and in some 
cases more than a year elapsed before they were forth- 
coming. When clerks were demoted, on the other hand, 
the change in pay and class took place at once. Then, too, 
men were often assigned to work which entitled them to 
classification above that in which they were rated without 
receiving the additional compensation rightfully due them. 
There were all sorts of rumors in explanation of these 
things, but the field officials really knew no more of the 
Department’s purposes, if it had any, than the clerks. The 
administration all this time had been talking of economy 
and of making the service self-supporting. The men nat- 
urally interpreted these delayed promotions and withheld 
advances as efforts to save money at their expense. Whether 
this was the case or whether the situation was merely the 
result of administrative bungling made no difference in so 
far as the temper of the clerks was concerned. 

The salary question was also a matter of complaint. The 
wages of railway postal clerks had gone up but slightly 
during a period of about twenty years, while the compensa- 
tion of other workers on the trains had gone up much faster 


33 House Hearings on Lloyd Bill ogee ang p. 193. 
% House Hearings on Lloyd Bill, pp. 171-3. 


136 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


and had on the whole kept pace with increased living costs. 
There were also serious complaints concerning the inade- 
quacy of clerks’ travel allowances. Yet the Department did 
not think that this was a matter of concern to the employees. 
It looked upon it purely as a question of administrative 
policy to be determined by itself and Congress. The fol- 
lowing excerpt from hearings before the House Post Office 
Committee well illustrates this official attitude:*° 


Mr. Lloyd: .. . “what harm would result if repre- 
sentatives of the Railway Mail Association should 
appear before this Committee and present the views 
of the railway mail clerks with reference to this ques- 
tion of travel pay? That is a matter which Congress 
passes upon. 

Mr. Stewart (Second Assistant Postmaster General) : 
Their views have already been expressed fully by the 
Department. What could be gained by their coming 
here? 

Mr. Lloyd: But you have expressed what you say 
their views are. 

Mr. Moore: Many of them tell us entirely differ- 
ently. 

Mr. Stewart: They all think that they ought to get 
more pay. 

Mr. Lloyd: That is just the point. They think they 
ought to get more and they think that you do not 
express to this Committee or to Congress or the country 
their views in the matter. ... That is a matter that 
affects them, and it does not affect you and it does not 
affect me. It is their pay, not yours. 

Mr. Stewart: It affects the appropriations, however, 
and the policy of the Department.” 


In its efforts to keep up the standard of performance the 
Department inaugurated a demerit system, but the clerks 
never knew that the system was in force until suddenly, at 
the end of one month, certain of them were told that they 
had received demerits. They did not know why they had 
gotten them and their immediate supervisors knew no more 
than they did. The marks were given by the officials at 


85 House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads: Hearings on Post Office 
Appropriation Bill for 1912, December, 1910, p. 279. 


THE “GAG” BEGINS TO HURT 137 


division headquarters. In some places the clerks, after 
they had asked, were told the reasons for their penalties. 
In other places the officials would give no information. But 
even where men received the information they asked in 
specific instances, they were told nothing of the methods 
and workings of the system. If on subsequent occasions 
they received demerits for other transgressions, they would 
know nothing about them until perhaps a month or two 
afterwards.*® 

All these things kept the clerks in a constant state of 
discontent. Every grievance ignored and every official act 
of repression merely helped convince large numbers that 
it was necessary to get their complaints before Congress and 
the public in spite of the authorities, and that the “gag-rule” 
which prevented this was their fundamental grievance. 


% House Hearings on Lloyd Bill (1911-12), p. 195. 


CHAPTER IX 


UNREST IN THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 


PRESIDENT TAFT AND ADMINISTRATIVE EFFICIENCY 


When President Taft assumed office it was hoped for a 
while that he might rescind the objectionable gag. But 
this hope was soon dispelled. The President made it clear 
that he had no intention of withdrawing or modifying the 
rule. Mr. Taft was much interested in improving the effi- 
ciency of federal administration. He designated a Com- 
mission on Efficiency and Economy to make a survey of 
the federal departments and establishments and recommend 
necessary reorganizations. One of the executive’s pet 
reforms, one which the country sorely needed, was an exec- 
utive budget. The President had set his heart on this long 
before he assumed office, and he took steps to pave the way 
for its realization even before he designated the efficiency 
commission. An executive budget meant certain restrictions 
on the legislature’s freedom in the matter of appropriations. 
It also implied the exercise of a far greater degree of execu- 
tive authority, with its corresponding responsibility, than 
presidents had hitherto been willing to assume. 


THE TAFT “GAG” ORDER 


Proceeding in the light of this, President Taft issued the . 
following order as a supplement to the Roosevelt “gag” 
order already in force. It was dated November 26, 1909. 


_“Tt is hereby ordered that no bureau, office, or divi- 
sion chief, or subordinate in any department of the 
Government, and no officer of the army or navy or 
marine corps stationed in Washington, shall apply to 
either House of Congress, or to any committee of either 
House of Congress, or to any member of Congress, for 
legislation, or for appropriations, or for congressional 
action of any kind, except with the consent and knowl- 

138 


UNREST IN THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 139 


edge of the head of the department; nor shall any such 
person respond to any request for information from 
either House of Congress, or any committee of either 
House of Congress, or any member of Congress, except 
through, or as authorized by, the head of his depart- 
ment.” 


In actual practice this order added little to the Roosevelt 
rule. It did, however, come into prominence some months 
later when President Taft dismissed Chief Forester Gifford 
Pinchot for having violated it. The prohibition against 
responding to Congressional requests for information had 
to all intents and purposes been in force right along. To 
the civil service the whole business looked like a needless 
piece of spite and only served to increase the discontent. 
Members of both Houses of Congress also objected to the 
order as an unwarranted and an illegal attempt to interfere 
with their prerogatives.t But this, of course, was a hopeful 
sign to the employees. 


THE “TAKE-UP-THE-SLACK” ORDERS 


Efficiency and economy became the watchwords of the 
administration. Mr. Hitchcock, who had become Post- 
master General, was anxious above all others to save money 
in his Department. For more than a year there had been 
much talk of a reorganization of the mail service in the 
interest of greater economy. Several suggestions as to how 
savings could be made came from the President’s efficiency 
commission. The railway mail service seemed to be singled 
out especially for the trial. 

Accordingly, toward the end of 1910 orders went out from 
the office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General to 
“take up the slack” in the railway mail service. Of the 
Department’s purpose the men knew nothing, and their local 
chief clerks seemed equally at sea and unable to enlighten 
them. All that the workers were aware of, and all that 
they cared about, was that without warning and without 
apparent cause or reason their work was suddenly increased 
right on the eve of the Christmas holiday rush. The number 
of crews on various lines was cut down, while the number 
of clerks assigned to the crews was also reduced. Lay-off 
periods were shortened, while hours of road duty were made 

1 New York Sun, Dec. 1, 1909. 


140 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


correspondingly longer.? Vacancies caused by resignations 
or leaves of absence were left unfilled, while the men on 
duty were compelled to cover the work of those away as 
well as their own. Although, according to the Department, 
as much extra*holiday help was allowed as the year before, 
the number was far from adequate in view of both the 
regular increase in the volume of mail from year to year 
and the drastic curtailment of the service. 

The “slack order” was the last straw. The morale of the 
force and its prided efficiency went to pieces. Conservative, 
hard working, and loyal clerks who used to boast that they 
“never went stuck” (failed to finish their distribution) 
now openly grumbled that they didn’t care whether they 
“cleaned up” or not. Tons of Christmas mail remained 
unworked for days at a time. Some of this had to be car- 
ried back and forth on the “stuck lines” until the crews 
could find time to work it. Thousands of sacks were trans- 
ferred to cars sidetracked for the purpose to be worked by 
men called from their rest periods. In the northwest, where 
the situation was especially bad, anywhere from 10 to 160 
sacks per train of unworked mail would come into the 
terminals.® 

Business men, civic organizations, and the press protested 
bitterly. Pictures of piles of bags of unworked mail were 
featured everywhere to reinforce the verbal attacks launched 
against the postal administration. In Denver, Urban 
Walter was arrested by a railroad official while he was 
photographing trucks of “stuck” mail at the station. But 
the local postal authorities, their hands full enough, had 
him released. On Christmas morning the photographs he 
had taken appeared in a Denver paper. 

Prior to Hitchcock’s “slack orders” it had been truly said 
that while post office clerks were driven by their supervisors, 
railway postal clerks were driven by the work they had to 

2The needs of the R. M. S. are such as to require excessive hours of duty of 
clerks on their runs. Schedules are therefore arranged in alternate work and rest 
periods, i.e., three days on and three days off, or a week on and a week off, etc. 
The strain of long hours of road duty is exceedingly great. The men prefer longer 
rest periods, alternated by longer work periods, evidently finding schedules so 
arranged less trying than a few days on and a few days off. One of the reasons 
for this is that a considerable portion of the rest period must be taken up with 
so-called “home duties,’’ like the preparation of official statements and reports 
and the study of schemes of distribution which must always be kept fresh in mind. 
The lay-off period might be considered as compensatory overtime for the excessive 


hours worked on the road. 
8 House Hearings on the Lloyd Bill, p. 177. 


UNREST IN THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 141 


do. The “slack orders” now changed this and made virtual 
“slave drivers” of the field officials. Tremendous pressure 
was brought to bear on them to speed things up and to 
show a saving, so that they in turn had no choice but to 
bring equal pressure on their men. 

The clerks did not know where to turn for relief. The 
rank and file had little faith in the Railway Mail Associa- 
tion which had proved ineffective in the past and was widely 
believed to be completely under the domination of the 
Department.* Ten of thirteen division superintendents, as 
well as the general superintendent at Washington and most 
of the chief clerks and field officials, were members of the 
Association. These local officials exercised a tremendous 
influence over Association affairs so that the officers elected 
were almost invariably men of whom they approved.> They 
were active in organization election campaigns, especially 
among the men in the more isolated districts who, lacking 
the advantage of constant contact with large numbers of 
their fellow workers, were more amenable to such pressure. 
Official influence was also potent among the new men in 
the service. Supervisors thus active always spoke not as 
representatives of the Department, but as members of the 
Association. Most of this influence was exercised by wink 
and nod and word of mouth, by “grapevine telegraph,” as 
one of the clerks put it. Yet some of it was reduced to 
writing. The following letter written by an assistant chief 
clerk in his capacity as an R. M. A. member during the 
tenth division election campaign in the spring of 1911 is an 
illustration of the way the officials worked. At the time 
there were two tickets in the field, one approved and one 
opposed by the local service authorities. 


Grand Forks, N. Dak., 
March 25, 1911. 
Dear Brother Clerk: The ballots for the coming 
division election will be mailed to each member of the 
association soon, and I wish to call your attention to 
a few things connected with association affairs in con- 
nection with the candidates for division. president. 
You are no doubt aware of the fact that Van Dyke 
is the “Brotherhood” candidate for division president, 


#See below, pp. 173-6, 296-7, See below, pp, 176, 297, 


142 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


and we cannot now afford to have two organizations 
in the railway mail service, both working for the same 
ends, but one in harmony with the Department and 
the other antagonistic to the Department. I believe 
the R. M. A. is in a better position now to get what the 
clerks deserve in the way of better pay, better hours, 
better cars, etc., than ever before, and by ccntinuing 
the present organization I believe we will accomplish 
all we desire in the course of another year or two. 

The Department and Congress recognize the R. M. A. 
as the official organization of the railway postal clerks 
and will not recognize the “Brotherhood,” and it is a 
certainty that if the “Brotherhood” is allowed to gain 
control of the R. M. A. we will lose all the prestige 
and influence that we have gained by fair and honest 
dealing with the Department. 

We will never gain anything by antagonizing the 
Department, and past experience has proved that every- 
thing Congress has done for us has been recommended 
by our Department officials, and it has been proved 
by past experience that Congress will not grant us 
anything that has not been recommended by the 
Department. 

Our association may have been too easy in the past, 
and I believe we should adopt a more aggressive cam- 
paign for the future and in presenting our grievances 
to the Department be prepared to convince them that 
our claims are just and that we are properly entitled 
to them. 

We know that our present vice president, P. J. 
Schardt, is the man best fitted to conduct our national 
affairs for the next year, and a vote for Van Dyke 
means a vote against Schardt. 

We have a candidate for division president who will 
meet all the requirements, is a sound, level-headed 
man, quiet in demeanor, but with a determination to 
do whatever he undertakes to do, and who will not try 
to tear down the present R. M. A., but who will do his 
best to make it stronger and more effective. That man 
is Mr. O. E. Johnson, of the Chi, & Minn. R. P. O., 
and a vote for him means a vote for Schardt, and for 
a better and stronger R. M. A., and, incidentally, a 


UNREST IN THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 143 


vote to better our own condition, not by antagonizing 
the Department, but by working in harmony with them. 
Think these things over before casting your vote, 
for I am sure if you do you will vote for Johnson. 
Fraternally yours, 
EB. C. OLwIn. 


Mass meetings were held to discuss conditions. Efforts 
were made to organize progressive parties or blocs as indi- 
cated in the letter quoted, to gain control of the division 
associations at the coming elections. At one mass meeting 
in the tenth division (the northwestern states) resolutions 
were drawn which were subsequently given formal sanction 
by the St. Paul local, R. M. A., and forwarded to the 
Department in the form of a petition. But the officials at 
Washington never took the trouble to acknowledge its 
receipt.°® 


THE TRACY-PIERRE “STRIKE” 


Finally, in January, 1911, things were brought to a head 
by an act of virtual insubordination on the part of ten 
clerks on the Tracy (Minnesota)-Pierre (S. Dakota) Rail- 
way Post Office. This incident has become known in the 
service, somewhat misleadingly, as the “Tracy-Pierre 
strike.” 

The line in question had long been the scene of much 
dissatisfaction. ‘The previous year had seen sixteen men 
resign or transfer from it, a number exactly equal to the 
run’s total regular force. This turnover necessitated no less 
than eighty different assignments of substitutes.’? This help, 
largely inexperienced, placed no little burden on the regular 
clerks, 

Not all of the men on this run,were assigned for the whole 
distance of 225 miles from Traey to Pierre. Six of them, 
to keep down the classification of the line, were supposed to 
run only to a town called Blunt, some thirty miles short 
of Pierre. But since this town had no accommodations, the 
six were obliged to go on through to the end of the line. 
Other men, designated as helpers, ran only to a point, 
Huron, about midway on the route. In January a vacancy 

© House Hearings on the Lloyd Bill, p. 193; also above. 


7™Dennis, Wm. J.: The Traveling Post Office (Des Moines, Iowa, 1916), Ch. 
VIII, p. 61. 


144, UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


occurred in one of these helper’s places which the Depart- 
ment, in taking up the slack, refused to fill. Instead, it 
ordered that the work be taken over by the regular men. 
This meant that the clerks living in Tracy or Pierre would 
have to travel to Huron twelve hours before their regular 
leaving time. The extra work and travel meant two days 
and three nights off the lay-off period® and, of course, no 
additional pay.® 7 

The arrangement involved eleven men. Ten of them 
refused to do the extra work, though willing to cover their 
regular runs. The division authorities tried their best to 
persuade them to obey orders until the Department could 
pass on the case. At first the men seemed willing and the 
local authorities so reported. But when it came to a show- 
down, they still continued in their refusal. By this time 
the Department was too far committed to turn back. In 
the face of its declaration that it would consider appeals but 
“not tolerate insubordination,’ there was really nothing 
left to do but to suspend the ten men. 

Then trouble began in earnest. Acting on the advice of 
the leaders of the progressive group in the division R. M. A., 
the suspended men asked permission to go back to work 
pending the official disposition of the trouble. This the 
authorities refused to permit. They attempted instead to 
carry the line with the help of a couple of transfers and 
about a score of substitutes. The result, so far as the 
efficient handling of the mails was concerned, was chaos. 
The congestion was unprecedented. Pouches rode up and 
down the line for days at a time. At one point over a 
thousand sacks, awaiting distribution, were piled on the 
station platform. Then “the public’ became interested. 
Protests poured into the offices of both the Washington 
and local authorities. The State Legislatures of South 

1 an ar a at St. Paul reported that the extra work would make the 
crew’s average road duty seven hours a day. This statement, though true, was 
misleading. It took none of the other inroads on the men’s time into account. 
Besides, ‘‘averages’” are funny things. A railway mail clerk’s average hours of 
road duty means the number of hours he would spend on the road each day if 
his work were distributed evenly over both the ‘‘on’’ and “‘off’? periods. So a 
seven-hour average might mean fourteen or more hours of work on the run. 
Before the ‘‘slack order’? the average hours on two of the four trains on the line 
was 6 hours, 22 minutes, and on the other two 5 hours, 54 minutes. 


10 Telegram of General Superintendent R. M. 8. to Superintendent at St. Paul, 
Jan. 12, 1911. 


UNREST IN THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 145 


Dakota and Minnesota memorialized the federal govern- 
ment for relief. 

But the government was able to do but little, for experi- 
enced clerks who could be spared to the line one after 
another refused the Department’s request to transfer to 
the “strikers’”’ runs. Then, on a connecting line, the Elroy 
and Tracy, twenty clerks did exactly what had been done 
by their fellow workers on the Tracy and Pierre. They 
refused to take up vacant helper runs. This time the 
Department dropped its order and filled the vacancies. 


THE THREAT OF RESIGNATIONS EN BLOC 


Then the clerks in South Dakota issued a statement, 
hardly distinguishable from an ultimatum, declaring that 
unless the Department conceded certain things they would 
quit in a body. Two hundred resignations were signed and 
ready to be filed at the slightest provocation.1: On the 
twenty-first of January two hundred clerks held a mass 
meeting at St. Paul and addressed the following telegram 
to the Postmaster General :?” 


“To your respectful consideration: At amass meet- 
ing of some two hundred railway postal clerks of the 
Twin Cities, held this evening, I was instructed to wire 
you that they absolutely refuse to keep up runs caused 
by vacancies without compensation therefor. Under 
no consideration will they fill vacancies caused by the 
suspension of clerks in such instances as Tracy and 
Pierre. 

JOHN L. THORNTON, 
Chairman of Committee.” 


For transmitting and signing this message Thornton was 
summarily dismissed from the service, while shortly fol- 
lowing came the discharge of five of the Tracy and Pierre 
“strikers” and the demotion of the rest. It was announced, 
too, that those who had remained loyal would receive pro- 
motions as soon as possible. On all sides and from all 
parts of the country there came expressions of sympathy 
for the discharged men. The Harpoon contributed five 
hundred dollars to their aid and a campaign for their further 


11 House Hearings on Lloyd Bill, p. 181. 
22 Same, p. 63. 


146 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


assistance was got vigorously under way. On the other 
hand, post office inspectors became most vigilant. ‘They 
kept close watch on the movements of the men’s recognized 
leaders and patroled the Tracy line night and day to ferret 
out active sympathizers of the discharged clerks.** 


THE OMAHA PETITION 


Five days after the St. Paul meeting reported in the 
Thornton telegram, a group of 130 clerks of the sixth divi- 
sion met at Omaha, Nebr., and notified the Postmaster 
General that the conditions under which they labored were 
“becoming intolerable.” They asked the immediate enact- 
ment of laws giving them a five-hour distribution day, an 
increase in salary, an adequate expense allowance, retire- 
ment, steel cars on all lines, prompt action on promotions 
and vacancies, abolition of the demerit system, extra pay 
for extra duty, provision for sufficient number of clerks, 
rearrangement of the transfer service, repeal of the “gag” 
rule.1# These resolutions were the most complete and 
comprehensive statement of the men’s grievances so far 
formulated. 


THE BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY POSTAL CLERKS 


But while the sixth division clerks were thus petitioning 
and resolving, a general walkout among the men of the 
tenth seemed scarcely avoidable. It was clear to the leaders 
of the progressive group within the division R. M. A. that 
something had to be done and be done quickly. They felt 
that a strike or mass resignation on the part of an unorgan- 
ized group of employees would be but a futile, and perhaps 
disastrous, gesture of angry protest. So, largely to forestall 
any hasty action and to bring the grievances of the force 
to the attention of Congress in an effective manner, a series 
of meetings were held, out of which, in the early part of 
February, there grew an organization called the Brother- 
hood of Railway Postal Clerks. 

One of the leaders of this movement was Carl C. Van 
Dyke, the man who had urged the Association to adopt a 
more aggressive policy at its convention at Fort Worth in 
1907. Van Dyke was now the most prominent figure in 


18 The Railway Mail, March, 1911, p. 6. ’ t 
14 Demotion of Clerks in the Railway Mail Service. Senate Doc. 1180 (62nd 
Cong., 2nd Sess.), pp. 6-11. 


UNREST IN THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 147 


the progressive faction within the R. M. A., president of 
’ the tenth division association, and a member of the national 
executive committee. It was the hope of Van Dyke and 
the Brotherhood members that the new organization, in 
addition to its other purposes, would be of use in the effort 
to make the R. M. A. an independent, representative, and 
truly useful organization to the rank and file. 

The new Brotherhood, in order to guard itself against 
departmental domination, opened its membership only to 
railway postal clerks, “from sub to clerk in charge,” and 
barred not only officials, but also “assistants to higher 
officials or those assigned to office work.’> Besides, mem- 
bers pledged themselves to “keep secret all the acts of the 
Brotherhood and the names of the members’”* and to stand 
by the organization on “any proposition endorsed by a 78 
per cent referendum vote of the entire Brotherhood,’” The 
purpose of this last obligation was to guard the association 
against any hasty or ill-considered action. The leaders 
knew that it would be exceedingly unlikely that 75 per cent 
of the entire membership of a representative group of gov- 
ernment employees would endorse a strike or insubordinaté 
act. When this obligation was originally drawn it had 
appended to it the phrase, “even to handing in my resigna- 
tion if necessary,” but these words were stricken out at Van 
Dyke’s suggestion and no man ever took the obligation in 
that form.1* Yet the post office inspectors in their zeal to 
discover and report “insubordinate and dangerous activi- 
ties” secured a copy of the preliminary form of the obli- 
gation and transmitted it to Washington with the result 
of increased friction and misunderstanding between the 
Department and the men. 

The provisions against the admission of officials or those 
who came into close and regular contact with them was one 
of the Department’s principal reasons for opposing the 
Brotherhood. This, the Second Assistant Postmaster Gen- 
eral complained, “excluded all knowledge of the delibera- 
tions of the association from the supervisory officers.”’?® 

1® Brotherhood of Railway Postal Clerks—By-laws: Membership qualifications, 
i ne sali of Railway Postal Clerks—By-laws: Members’ obligations. 


18 House Hearings on the Lloyd Bill, p. 181. 
19 Same, p. 51. 


148 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


THE BROTHERHOOD AND THE STRIKE QUESTION 


The .formation of the Brotherhood of Railway Postal 
Clerks relieved some of the tension in the northwest and 
removed immediate danger of a strike or walkout. Of 
course, this danger did not vanish in a flash. The clerks 
through their organization and special meetings made every 
effort to secure the support of civic and business bodies for 
Congressional action which would bring them relief. Their 
appeals always called attention to the possibility of a strike 
if the situation continued unimproved. The following is 
from such an appeal by the Brotherhood’s attorney: 


“Every mayor, commercial club and business man 
who feels that a strike or disorganization of the postal 
service would work public injury, should kick hard 
and often. I suggest telegrams and letters hot and 
often to our Senators and Congressmen, urging full 
investigation of the post office with its salary saving 
and thrifty railroad serving economy.” 


At the same time, Thornton, who had been removed for 
the January telegram, tried to enlist the aid of postal em- 
ployees throughout the country in this campaign to rouse 
Congress. Telling of the Brotherhood attorney’s appeal, 
he said: 


“This gentleman also drew up a letter designed to be 
sent to commercial clubs, stating our grievances and 
the consequences to the public in general were we to 
quit in a body.” 


The Department interpreted these appeals as definite 
strike threats. Actually they were no more than warnings 
that, if unbearable conditions continued, it might be impos- 
sible for the leaders to hold the men to peaceful methods. 


THE DEPARTMENT MODIFIES ITS “SLACK” POLICY 


The Brotherhood gave the clerks a new agency to which 
they could turn with some hope of relieving their condition. 
The situation was now further relieved by the Department’s 
surrender to the men on the question of the “slack orders.” 
The national officers of the Railway Mail Association, 
forced to action by the situation, held a conference with 
the service heads at Washington, after which the Postmaster 


UNREST IN THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 149 


General, declaring that “unreasonable and humiliating’’ 
orders had been issued without his authorization, modified 
the “slack” policy. A few weeks later the General Superin- 
tendent of the R. M. 8S. was transferred to the superin- 
tendency of the 10th division. It was generally believed 
that the higher officials had made him the scapegoat of the 
whole unfortunate affair. But this transfer was welcomed 
by the 10th division clerks, for it rid them of their unpopu- 
lar chief, Superintendent Norman Perkins. It had, in fact, 
been reported for a long time that the clerks were sparing 
no effort to bring about Perkins’ removal.?° 

But these concessions by no means brought peace. In 
fact, it encouraged the men to fight all the harder for the 
removal of the other service abuses. The change of front 
on the “slack orders” was due in no small part to the action 
of the Tracy and Pierre men.*! The discharged five became 
a sort of rallying point. The campaign to raise funds for 
their relief lent no small amount of publicity to the clerks’ 
fight during the next few months. The revolt against the 
reactionary leadership of the R. M. A. made headway in 
nearly every division. Local lodges of the Brotherhood 
were organized in several localities, but in spite of its spread 
the movement was generally regarded as temporary. Its 
principal supporters, including the Harpoon, regarded it as 
an attempt to fill the gap left by the Railway Mail Asso- 
ciation’s failure. It was generally felt that the new organ- 
ization would go out of existence as soon as it, with the 
help of many supporters and sympathizers outside of its 
ranks, would oust the ‘old crowd” from the control of the 
Association. 


THE A. F. OF L. AND RAILWAY MAIL CLERKS’ UNIONS 


At the same time another insurgent movement started 
under the leadership of the American Federation of Labor. 
General organizers of that body got actively to work and 
within a few weeks local federal labor unions of railway 
postal clerks were organized at New York, Chicago, Har- 
risburg, Pa., Syracuse, N. Y., Cleveland, O., Washington, 

2 Demotion of salir in the Railway Mail Service. Senate Doc, 1130 (62nd 
Cong., 2nd Sess.), 42; 
a The deuihention of the line was subsequently raised $100 and the objection- 


able helper runs to Blunt changed, so that these clerks were assigned to the 
end of the line, 


150 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


D. C., Richmond, Va., Chattanooga, Tenn., Ogden, Utah, 
Norfolk, Va., Minneapolis, Minn., and Cincinnati, O. A 
strong effort was also made to form a union at Boston, but 
according to the Second Assistant Postmaster General 
“through the efforts of the Department it did not succeed.”22 

Shortly before at Cleveland, under the leadership of the 
city central labor body, plans were made and pushed for 
the organization of a national union of railway mail clerks 
to be affiliated with the A. F. of L. Application was made 
to the Federation for a national charter by the Postal 
Clerks’ Protective Association, the organization of railway 
postal clerks of Cleveland and its vicinity, which, it was 
thought, would be the nucleus of this national organization. 
The application was refused on the grounds that several 
local federal labor unions of railway mail clerks had already 
been chartered or were in the process of formation. A few 
weeks later the Brotherhood of Railway Postal Clerks 
was also refused a national charter on the same grounds. 
According to the Federation, there was not a sufficient num- 
ber of local unions in existence to assure the success of a 
national union, but it promised that as soon as the number 
was sufficient it would take the necessary steps towards 
establishing a national organization.”* ? 

22 House Hearings on the Lloyd Bill, 86. 


23 Hearings: House Special Aboaanittes of the Committee on Post Offices and 
Post Roads, December, 1917, January, 1918, p. 31. 


CHAPTER X 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 


But even before the “slack order” crisis the Harpoon’s 
campaign for safe and sanitary mail cars began to show 
results. In spite of official efforts to prevent it, the com- 
plaints of the workers finally began to come effectively to 
the attention of Congress. ‘The post office bill passed the 
House in December, 1910, containing a very strong proviso 
regarding the safety and sanitary condition of mail cars. It 
spoke not in generalities as had the provision of the year 
before, but actually attempted to set a definite standard 
and define its terms in detail. On the morning on which 
the appropriation bill came up in the House, representatives 
received telegrams from Urban A. Walter urging the inclu- 
sion of a safety proviso almost identical with the one finally 
adopted. The Senate Post Office Committee, however, just 
at the time when the employees were on the verge of re- 
bellion, practically nullified the House steel car provision 
by a large majority. 

This action came almost simultaneously with a statement 
of the President, issued through his Secretary, definitely 
refusing to modify the gag-orders.t. A more effective situa- 
tion to aid the “‘anti-gag” campaign could not have been 
purposely devised. A bill affecting, perhaps, the very lives 
of the workers was being “killed” by a legislative com- 
mittee. At the same time the nation’s chief executive was 
emphasizing the fact that these workers must do nothing 
to save the legislation. 


THE HARPOON’S SPECIAL “ANTI-GAG”’ BULLETIN 


Urban A. Walter felt that the situation was serious 
enough to warrant the issue of a special bulletin prelimi- 
nary to the regular edition of the Harpoon. This bulletin 
also served as an appeal for funds for the discharged Tracy 

1 Note to Mr. Fulton R. Gordon, of Washington, D. C., Feb. 14, 1911. 
151 


UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


152 


and Pierre “strikers.” The circulars were enclosed in large 


envelopes as shown in the facsimile below. 


‘I ‘DI 


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(83039 OO ‘etroyjdyz9sqns Ajse94-7]8y 1OQ'CS ‘UOAVS fOO"SS ‘29Iq) {OOS ‘SVONdsosqns ojPug) *eqwosqne 0} °9d];30 
ANOA JO S4dJIIVD PUY SYIO}) 993 19H “ATAU OVO YFseus oF youssq £300 DY Bem OM JO Js0ddns oq) Pod OM 


"Y30YO SIHL ONIOSIY LON TUIM 3H LVHL OJINNONNY ATINOTG SVH L4VL ONY DVD SNOWVANI 3HL AD SONVIS NIOIHOIIH 139A 
*YOJJENYIS ALS 0} PEpPUsosed Ssepso SeHpejMoUy s{y JNOYYIM pans; Siapo ,OUN;eI WHY PUB ajqeUoseesun,, Speajd YOODYD!H “"}OAG Yodo UY Ojty pUB YURI ‘s2xB] SYZVOW OME 

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This mail was held up at the Denver post office. Walter 
was placed under arrest by the inspectors, charged with 
violation of the postal laws, and discharged on $1,000 bail. 


The authorities took special exception to the last sentence, 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 153 


“Vet Hitchcock stands by the infamous gag and Taft has 
bluntly announced that he will not rescind this order.” 


MATTER INSIDE 


CENSORED 


GAG-RULE. Get the Clerks and Carriers at your 
seven, $5.00; half-yearly subscriptions, §0 cents,) 


Fic. 2. 


OF THE GAG! 


We Need the support of the men in every branch to smash 
to subscribe. (Single subscriptions, $1.00; three, $2.50; 


office 


LAST DEATH RATTLE 


* After 5 Days Notify 
FOR RETURN PosTact 


iL. 
coo 
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Bacdaeadd 


Bundles of Anti-Gag-Publicity Number, 14 cent per copy.—The HARPOON, Donver, Colo. 





Walter complied with the authorities’ demands and removed 
all of the objectionable words under the first heading by 
printing over them a black ribbon line, long and wide 
enough to cover them. But by holding the envelope in the 
proper light the deleted lines could easily be read through 


154 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


the ribbon. This, however, was probably not done delib- 
erately. In its revised form the envelope appeared as 
reproduced on the preceding page. 

Thus the bulletins went through the mails. Walter en- 
closed an additional leaflet telling the story of his arrest 
in such a way as to make the officials seem unspeakably 
ridiculous. At the same time he repeated in full the matter 
which he was obliged to remove from the outside of the 
envelope. Once more official stupidity defeated its own 
ends. Unquestionably the effectiveness of the bulletin was 
multiplied many times. 

The purpose of this bulletin was chiefly to impress upon 
the clerks the necessity for keeping up their fight and to 
secure support for the Tracy men. And in the following 
words it announced the coming regular March issue of the 
Harpoon: 


“We shall make the next number of the Harpoon the 
greatest and best that has ever been issued. It will be 
essentially public. It will show up the gag-orders 
which Taft declares shall stand, and it will show up 
the criminal action of the Senate Committee in annul- 
ling the steel car provision for safe cars. It will contain 
the photographs of three-fourths of the fatal mail car 
wrecks that have occurred during the last two years. 
And the public will be firmly told that you have de- 
cided, after years of begging, to take the question of 
safe cars into your own hands. Henceforth the plan 
will be to ‘refuse to ride’ in a wooden car sandwiched 
between steel cars, or in any mail car in which your 
life is jeopardized. There will be no refusal to work 
the mail or do your duty as a railway mail clerk. Nor 
will there be any concerted action to tie up the mails, 
but in every case where the car or its position jeopard- 
izes your life you will ‘refuse to ride’ in that car. 

‘“‘And if, as in the case of the Tracy and Pierre clerks, 
the Department will suspend clerks who will be taking 
a, stand only on their rights, then you, as a body, will 
stand by such suspended clerks, Just as we are now 
standing by the Tracy and Pierre clerks, and further, 
by appeal to the public, demand their reinstatement.” 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 155° 


THE SAFETY PROVISION OF 1911 


No challenge to the government could have been clearer 
or more direct. But it was never necessary to put the 
“refuse to ride” method into effect, for when the President 
approved the post office bill on March 4, 1911, to be effec- 
tive July 1st, it contained the following provision :? 


“For railway post-office car service, five million and 
ten thousand dollars: Provided, That no part of this 
amount shall be paid for the use of any car which is 
not sound in material and construction, and which is 
not equipped with sanitary drinking-water containers 
and toilet facilities, nor unless such car is regularly and 
thoroughly cleaned: Provided further, That after the 
first of July, nineteen hundred and eleven, no pay shall 
be allowed for the use of any wooden full railway post- 
office car unless constructed substantially in accordance 
with the most approved plans and specifications of the 
Post-Office Department for such type of cars, nor for 
any wooden full railway post-office cars run in any 
train between adjoining steel cars or between the engine 
and a steel car adjoining, and that hereafter additional 
cars accepted for this service shall be of steel, or with 
steel underframe, if used in a train in which a majority 
of the cars are of like construction: Provided further, 
That after the first of July, nineteen hundred and six- 
teen, the Postmaster General shall not approve or allow 
to be used or pay for any full railway post-office car 
not constructed of steel or with steel underframe, if 
such post-office car is used in a train in which a ma- 
jority of the cars are of steel or of steel underframe 
construction.” 


Thus the way was in large measure cleared for the 


employees to concentrate their major effort on the removal 


of the “gag.” The March, 1911, issue of the Harpoon 
began this stage of the fight in all its intensity. From its 
first sensational scare head: “Shall ‘Gag’ Silence 100,000 
Postal Workers Against Official Graft, Incompetency and 


Tyranny?” the issue was all that preliminary announce- 


ments had promised. Almost 200,000 copies were dis- 
236 Stat., 1335. 


156 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


tributed and it attracted surprisingly widespread and sym- 
pathetic attention. 


STEWART’S SECRET SOCIETY ORDER 


Just as these copies were reaching their destinations, an 
order issued from the headquarters of the railway mail 
service which attempted a further and most important re- 
striction on the privileges of the employees under its juris- 
diction. As has been mentioned, post office inspectors had 
kept most active watch upon the clerks ever since the first 
warnings that trouble was brewing. They had been on the 
lookout for secret societies, plots and “pernicious activi- 
ties” for many weeks. Most of their work was done under 
cover and often their methods were none too scrupulous. 
Reports of their findings, true, exaggerated and not so true, 
kept going to Washington. Finally, as a result of these 
reports, the following order was issued: 


Post Office Department, 
Office of Second Assistant Postmaster General, 
Washington, March 13, 1911. 
Mr. Alex. Grant, 
General Superintendent Division of Railway Mail 
Service. 
Sir: 

Referring to the reports that postal clerks at various 
points are forming lodges of secret organizations of 
railway postal clerks, I desire that steps be taken at 
once to acquaint all in the service that such action is 
regarded as inimical to the interests of the Government. 
All clerks when they enter the service take an oath to 
well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office to 
which they are appointed and to perform all the duties 
required of them and to abstain from everything for- 
bidden by the laws in relation to post offices and post 
roads. It is incompatible with their obligation to the 
department that they should assume another oath with 
a secret organization in the service which may at any 
time interfere with the obligations which they have 
assumed upon entering the service. This is not to be 
construed as interfering with any right which a clerk 
may have of acting personally and individually with 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 157 


reference to organizations outside of the postal service. 
You are directed to advise all railway postal clerks 
as to these principles of employment and views here 
expressed and that they shall be governed thereby. 
JOSEPH STEWART, 
Second Assistant Postmaster General. 


In this form the order was printed in the first (New Eng- 
land) division, but before it could be so published in other 
sections of the country, the direction to print it in the 
general orders was rescinded and instead word was com- 
municated to the division heads: “Please do not publish 
this in your orders, but let it go by word of mouth.’”® This 
enabled superintendents and chief clerks, as Mr. Gompers 
told the Civil Service Committee of the House, to inform 
clerks in person that the Department was opposed to certain 
organizations and that, if the clerks should join them or 
should refuse to withdraw from them, they would be 
demoted or discharged. 

The Department was now openly at war with all em- 
ployee organizations in the railway mail service which it 
could not control. Second Assistant Stewart declared that, 
according to the rules laid down by Postmaster General 
Cortelyou in 1905, organization officers had to be employees 
of the Department.* “Men who had been dismissed from 
the service have been elected officers of these organizations. 
Is there any better evidence,” he said, “of insubordination 
and opposition to the Post Office Department or to its Gov- 
ernment needed than that?’> Furthermore, Mr. Stewart 
held, the Postmaster General reserved the right to deter- 
mine the form which an employee organization should take,® 
and according to him, the Department looked with favor 
upon two organizations in the railway mail service. The 
first was the Railway Mail Association, the second, the 
Mutual Benefit Association.? The latter was a_ benefit 
society only. It had no other activities. The fact that 
the Second Assistant could mention these two bodies ap- 
provingly in the same breath indicated more effectively 
than pages of explanation how active an organization the 


3 House Hearings on Lloyd Bill, p. 10. 

4 Report of the Postmaster General, 1905, p. 14. 
5 House Hearings on the Lloyd Bill, p. 50. 

© Same, p. 49. 

7Same, p. 52. 


158 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Department would tolerate. It also spoke volumes as to 
the character of the Railway Mail Association at the time. 

In accordance with these orders the Department now set 
out, through the agency of divisional and local officers and 
the corps of inspectors, to break the unions and the Brother- 
hood. And in this effort it used about every method prac- 
tised by private employers in fighting organizations among 
their employees, with the additional advantage of having 
behind its acts all the glamour and prestige of “law” and 

“sovernment.” 

The efforts of the inspectors now redoubled. They spied 
on meetings and gatherings of the men. They used clerks 
to spy on other clerks. They worked at distributing cases 
alongside of the regular workers to pick up such informa- 
tion as they could. They did not even hesitate, these agents 
of the Post Office Department, to tamper with the mail if 
they thought it served their purpose.® 


THE “INQUISITION” 


Chief clerks and division superintendents called suspected 
employees into their presence and subjected them to severe 
cross questioning as to their organization connections, 
activities and intentions. The following is a typical exam- 
ple of such a cross examination. The clerk here ques- 
tioned, and who was subsequently removed for his answers, 
had been in the service twenty-two years. His only offense 
was his membership in the Cleveland Postal Clerks’ Pro- 
tective Association. 


Q. Are you a member of the Railway Mail Clerks’ 
Protective Association? 

A. I decline to answer. I consider this a private 
affair. 

Q. This is a secret organization, is it not? 

A. Yes, I suppose so. 

Q. Have you attended any meeting? 

A. I decline to answer. 

Q. This association affiliates with the American Fed- 
eration of Labor, does it not? 

A. I do not know. 

Q. Do you decline to answer any and all questions 


8 Congressional Record (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 10729; also Hearings (above 
cited), pp. 184 and 200. 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 159 


concerning this association and the matter of your 
membership with it on the grounds that it is no con- 
cern of the department? 

A. I do. 


He was further questioned by his chief clerk at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, March 30: 


I have called your attention to the letter from the 
honorable Second Assistant Postmaster General, under 
date of March 13, 1911, defining the attitude of the 
department with relation to the formation of secret 
organizations within the Railway Mail Service. 

Q. You are a member of the Postal Clerks’ Protec- 
tive Association, are you not, Mr. Nichols? 

A. Yes. 

Q. You have been nominated for office and your 
name placed upon the ballot? 

A. I suppose so; yes. 

Q. What office, may I ask? 

A. I think it was trustee. 

Q. The ballots that were sent out are returnable 
April 1, are they not? 

A. I don’t remember. 

Q. Now that you have been made aoe ented with 
the position of the department with relation to organ- 
izations of the character of the Postal Clerks’ Protec- 
tive Association, which I understand is a secret organ- 
ization, please say what your future policy will be with 
regard to membership in that organization and per- 
formance of duties of the office for which you have been 
nominated, if elected. 

A. Well, I take the ground that that letter of Mr. 
Stewart’s is entirely beyond his authority; that he has 
no right to make any such regulations. My position is 
such that I don’t intend to withdraw. 

Q. You will serve as an officer of that organization 
if elected? 

A. I certainly will—if I remain in the service. I’ve 
got to the point that I don’t care whether I stay or not, 
as far as that’s concerned. 

Mr. Formanek: That will be all. 


160 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Wherever there was a local union or Brotherhood lodge, 
employees were subjected to this treatment. The questions 
asked were pretty much the same all over, but the attitude 
and tone of the officials naturally varied with circumstances. 
At St. Paul, for example, the superintendent told a Brother- 
hood man that, in accordance with the Second Assistant’s 
letter, it was his duty to withdraw from the organization, 
“that failure to do so would be considered insubordination, 
that the Department was determined to break up such 
organization.” The examined clerk, after telling his superior 
that he believed in union principles and that he thought the 
Department’s order illegal, was told: ‘Well, then I see that 
you and I can never agree on that subject. You understand 
that any one who takes such a stand against the Depart- 
ment is liable to get hurt and you’ll have no kick coming.”® 


LEADERS DEMOTED OR DISCHARGED 


As a result of these interviews demotions and dismissals 
took place on all sides. The reasons given were usually 
“for the good of the service,” “for conduct detrimental to 
the welfare of the service.”’ Among those disciplined by 
demotion was Carl C. Van Dyke who was transferred at a 
loss of $300 in salary from the railway mail service to the 
post office at St. Paul “for having been perniciously active 
in endeavoring to foment discontent on the part of fellow 
employees in the R. M. S. and in so doing (exerting) an 
influence detrimental to the best interests of the service and 
tending to insubordination.” Immediately upon his transfer 
Van Dyke resigned from the service and was elected chair- 
man of the welfare committee of the division R. M. A., and 
went to Washington to represent the interests of his former 
fellows. The new office to which Van Dyke was elected 
was created by the division convention of 1911 which felt 
that the national officers of the Railway Mail Association 
could not be depended upon to look after the interests of 
the clerks. It was provided that the chairman of the wel- 
fare committee devote his entire time to his duties.1° An 
assessment was levied upon the members to cover the cost 
of the work. The national officers at once opposed this 
policy and subsequently succeeded in prohibiting the collec- 


® Congressional Record (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 10780. 
10See Railway Post Office, May, 1911, p. 9. 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 161° 


tion of funds to carry it on. In 1914, three and a half years 
after his discharge, the people of St. Paul gave some indica- 
tion of what they thought of the Department’s procedure 
by sending Van Dyke to Congress. 

To an extent the Post Office Department’s policy was 
successful. The union movement was checked and before 
long many of the locals were forced out of existence or 
greatly weakened. But the Brotherhood of Railway Postal 
Clerks managed to hang on in spite of losses, and the move- 
ment of the “radicals” to gain control of the R. M. A. went 
on with unabated vigor. Wherever this movement was sufh- 
ciently “radical,” i.e., where it spoke harshly of the “gag” 
or the Department’s policies, or where it spoke favorably 
of the Harpoon or indulged in similar “indiscretions,” the 
Department’s attitude was as antagonistic as towards the 
Brotherhood or the unions. The inspectors kept as close 
watch on the more active insurgents as on the leaders of 
the banned organizations. In their zeal to discover insubor- 
dination and “disloyalty to the Department,” they went the 
way of so many of their fellow detectives of a later day, 
who saw organized treason in every manifestation of dis- 
content. 


THE ERWIN CASE 


In Nebraska Charles H. Erwin was president of the 
Omaha branch of the Railway Mail Association. For some 
time this branch had been at the front of the ‘reform move- 
ment” in the 6th division association. It was the body 
which, towards the end of January, 1911, had issued the 
comprehensive statement of the men’s grievances above 
mentioned.” 

It was about a month after this event that Erwin an- 
nounced his candidacy for the division presidency on a plat- 
form’? which endorsed the Harpoon as having been of “‘ines- 
timable value—in our troubles in connection with the ‘slack- 
orders,’ and which favored Urban A. Walter as editor of the 
Railway Post Office, the official organ of the R. M. A.’”’3 It 


11 Above, p. 146. 
12 See Demotion of oie in the Railway Mail Service. Senate Doc. 1130 
(62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), 9, 
181t was widely coariad ‘that the Railway Post Office represented only the 
executive committee of the R. M. A., and that it would give the rank and file 
no opportunity to express, through its columns, opinions hostile to the As- 
sociation administration of the Department’s policy. 


162 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


also espoused the creation of a grievance committee to pre- 
sent “deserving complaints” to the Department or Congress. 

On the recommendation of the inspectors Erwin was 
transferred to the Omaha post office at a loss of $200 a 
year in salary. In addition to his platform and his active 
espousal and leadership of the insurgent cause this clerk’s 
only other offense was that, after an address by the national 
vice-president of the Railway Mail Association reporting 
a conference at Washington with the heads of the service, 
he raised the question as to who paid the expenses of the 
trip of the Association officers. A number of other clerks 
in the division, supporters of the “radical” cause, received 
the same treatment as Erwin. Later, in spite of his de- 
motion, Erwin was chosen president of his division associa- 
tion by a large majority. 


THE SLOCUM PLATFORM 


At the same time similar events were occurring in the 
New England division. A railway postal clerk, Harry E. 
Slocum of Springfield, Mass., announced himself a candi- 
date for delegate to the national convention of the Railway 
Mail Association on a platform in which he declared him- 
self in favor of “‘a representative (at Washington) who can 
neither be bought, fired, nor told he is out of place, to look 
after any legislation affecting our service and to present our 
case to Congress. ...” Slocum further declared himself 
“in favor of the repeal of the Executive order or ‘gag’ rule 
which denies us the rights and privileges guaranteed us by 
the Constitution of the United States.’”24 This was shortly 
before the ‘“‘secret society” order, so there could be no ques- 
tion of Slocum having offended on that score. Neverthe- 
less, he was summarily removed without charge or hearing. 
The official reason was the usual one: “Conduct detrimental 
to the welfare of the service.” 

This action caused a wave of protest among the New 
England clerks and, of course, contributed immensely to the 
very cause which the authorities were trying to defeat. 
Slocum received his notice on a Thursday. The following 
Sunday the division association held a special meeting at 
Boston and by unanimous vote “demanded” that Slocum be 


14 Springfield Republican, March 15, 1911. 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 1638 


given a hearing before the proper officials and that he be 
accorded the right of counsel. 


THE QUACKENBUSH CASE 


Less than three weeks after this meeting another New 
England clerk, Charles H. Quackenbush, the mover of these 
resolutions, also found himself discharged “for conduct det- 
rimental to the service.” This case attracted a good deal 
of attention at the time and received much newspaper pub- 
licity, both in and out of Boston. The formal complaints 
against Quackenbush were several. The first was that he 
had moved that a copy of certain resolutions adopted by 
the division association, including one “demanding’* the 
withdrawal of the “gag” rule, be sent to the chairman of 
the Post Office Committee. This, the inspectors held, was 
a violation of the executive orders, even though the division 
secretary, presumably in fear of official displeasure, never 
forwarded the resolutions. The second charge was that he 
had on two occasions met a general organizer of the Amer- 
ican Federation of Labor in the company of several other 
employees. This was taken to show that Quackenbush was 
behind a movement to unionize the New England railway 
postal clerks. The third charge was his connection with the 
Slocum resolutions. The fourth was that he had said that 
the Harpoon was entitled to the support of all the clerks, 
although he was opposed to it being made the official organ 
of the Railway Mail Association. 

But the real reasons for the Quackenbush action lay else- 
where. The fight for ascendency between the conservative 
and insurgent factions of the New England division was 
exceedingly sharp. Quackenbush led the latter group while 
the president of the division association led the former. This 
officer was a staunch supporter of the policies and leaders 
of the national association and always threw his influence 
in the way of every proposed action of the organization 
which might in any way displease the authorities.17 On 

15 Boston Traveler, March 13, 1911. 

16 Quackenbush was responsible for the substitution of ‘‘demand’”’ for “‘request.’’ 

17 When on his return from a conference with the authorities at Washington he 
was asked: ‘‘What have you to tell us that has been promised to better our 
conditions?’’ he answered: ‘‘That I am not at liberty to tell, as my talk with 
the officials was confidential.’-—Congressional Record (62nd Cong., 2nd _ Sess.), 
p. 10731. The workers felt this to be a strange answer on the part of their repre- 


sentative and an even stranger policy on the part of a public department officially 
opposed to “‘secret societies’’ among its employees. 


164 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


March 9th, the very day on which Slocum received notice 
of his dismissal, Quackenbush formally announced his 
candidacy for division president. To the men active in 
Association politics this announcement did not come as a 
surprise. 

Meanwhile, about the middle of February, when the dis- 
satisfaction caused by the “slack orders” was at its height, 
the division president paid a visit to the inspector-in-charge 
at Boston. He warned him of the danger of the discontent 
among the force growing into “radical disloyalty” and of 
the growing sentiment among the men for affiliation with 
the American Federation of Labor.ts Having thus put the 
inspectors on their guard, he continued in closest touch with 
them. The day after the Slocum protest meeting the New 
England inspector-in-charge wrote to his chief at Washing- 
ton of Quackenbush’s activities and admitted that he was 
“receiving his information to a great extent from Mr. 
—_——., president of the Railway Mail Clerks’ Associa- 
tion of New England.” He added: “Mr. ————— is not 
in sympathy at all with such actions as have been recorded 
in this report. and I think I can depend on him for further 
information.”?® The belief was general among the men that 
Mr. ————— had brought about the Slocum and Quacken- 
bush discharges as a means towards helping to keep himself 
and his friends in control of the R. M. A.?° 


THE NEW ENGLAND DIVISION ELECTION 


When it became apparent that neither Quackenbush nor 
Slocum would retire from candidacy because of their dis- 
charges, the national secretary of the R. M. A. at Mr. 
———’s request”? cancelled the membership of both former 
clerks in the Association. He claimed to have acted “under 
instructions from the executive committee.” Later it was 
found that there had been no meeting of that committee. 
Instead Mr. ————, as a committee man, had, without any 


18 Charles H. Quackenbush, 8. Doc. 866 (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), pp. 26 and 240. 
19 Same, pp. 17-18 


% It is true that Mr. ————— visited the inspectors before Quackenbush had 
announced himself a candidate for division president. ‘“This,” the inspectors wrote, 
“would appear to set aside the charge that —-————— is instituting this investi- 


gation against Quackenbush for the purpose of defeating a competing candidate.”’ 
Written under date of April 6, 1911; See S. Doc. cited, p. 26. However, the 
political situation within the division association was clear to all long before 
Quackenbush’s formal announcement of his candidacy. 

*1 Charles H. Quackenbush, S. Doc. 866 (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 216. 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 165 


authority in the rules of the Association, simply “ordered” 
the national secretary to take the action he had announced.?? 
Yet in spite of every effort to keep themselves in power 
the “old guard” were defeated. Quackenbush was chosen 
president by a large majority and Slocum elected to the 
national convention. On the day of the annual meeting 
Quackenbush was obliged to obtain a court order restraining 
Mr. from interfering with his election. The defeated 
president left the hall saying that all members who had 
helped elect his opponent would be brought to account for 
their action.*® 





R. M. A. OLD GUARD “USES” THE DEPARTMENT 


What little faith remained anywhere in the justice and 
fair dealing of the Department was completely dispelled 
by these incidents in New England and the West. To 
thousands of employees they were proof positive that the 
authorities and their agents were using their official posi- 
tions to control Association elections. This the authorities 
indignantly denied, and the truth seems to be that they 
were rather the victims than the plotters. The threatened 
Association officers took full advantage of the fears and 
credulity of officials who had shown that they were willing 
to believe almost anything, and fed them full of stories of 
the insubordinate nature of the insurgent movement and 
of the disloyal character of the A. F. of L. 


RIDICULOUS REPORTS OF INSPECTORS 


The Department was suffering from a bad case of nerves 
for which ridiculous reports of the inspectors were in no 
small measure responsible. Though they were the employers 
of thousands of workers, the heads of the postal service 
were apparently astonishingly ignorant of the character of 
the official American labor movement. Of course, these 
heads of the service could have informed themselves of the 
character of the A. F. of L. with little difficulty, but they 
preferred to depend on the hair-raising reports of stupid 
inspectors and to make themselves ridiculous by taking 
these reports seriously. Accepting such accounts of the 
A. F. of L. as the following, there is little wonder that the 


22 Same, p. 201. ; 
23Same, pp. 201, 209, 216, and Boston Traveler, April 12, 1911. 


166 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


authorities were so frightened at the thought of clerks’ 
unions. 

This is from a memorandum of the chief inspector to the 
Postmaster General, summing up the findings of local 
inspectors regarding the American Federation of Labor: 


“Tt appears that this . . . organization, before grant- 
.» ing admission to applicants for membership, requires 
a secret oath and that all other organizations affiliating 
with it pay tribute to the central organization. This 
central organization does not appear to be incorporated; 
is responsible to no laws and to no government; in 
spite of the tremendous industrial, economical, and 
social influence which it asserts, it manages its affairs 
without public accountability ; its oligarchies raise and 
spend vast sums of money in ways of which the public 
has no knowledge; its operations are veiled in mystery 
and reach out to every corner of the country.”* 


“Tn view of the above and having in mind the best inter- 
ests of the service as a whole,” the chief added, “Inspector- 
in-Charge Letherman was fully justified in keeping close 
watch on the situation.” And Mr. Letherman depended to 
no small extent on “information” given him by the president 
of the New England Division, R. M. A., and employees 
close to him. Much of this information was just as ridicu- 
lous as the chief inspector’s memorandum. Yet the Depart- 
ment accepted it unquestioningly and solemnly presented 
it to a Congressional committee as evidence of the danger 
of allowing government employees to join organizations 
not to the Department’s liking. Several employees in aff- 
davits sworn before a post office inspector said that it was 
a matter of general conversation among the clerks that, 
should the R. M. A. join the Federation of Labor and should 
it desire to strike, the latter would assess every member 
of federated labor in the United States ten cents each and 
turn the money over to the R. M. A. to aid it in its strike.*® 

Of course, to any one who knew anything about the 
American Federation of Labor, it would at once have been 
clear that all this talk of the inspectors and interested clerks 

24 Memorandum to Postmaster General from Chief Inspector, S. Doc. 866 (62nd 


Cong., 2nd Sess.), 241. 
2> House Hearings on Lloyd Bill, pp. 83-5. 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 167 


was arrant nonsense.*® Yet the Department accepted it 
without question, grew hysterical over it, and allowed itself 
to be imposed upon to the advantage of the “old guard” of 
the R. M. A. It was ignorance in high places which, more 
than all else, was at the bottom of the troubles of 1911. 


SENATOR LA FOLLETTH’S QUESTIONNAIRE 


The disordered state of postal affairs soon began to 
attract the attention of Senators and Representatives, and 
many resolutions calling for investigations of the service 
were presented in Congress. Senator La Follette of Wis- 
consin became especially interested and conducted an inves- 
tigation of his own through a questionnaire which he sent 
to every railway postal clerk in the country.?’ In his letter 
accompanying the questions the Senator explained that his 
attention had been called to the Second Assistant Post- 
master General’s order regarding organization “inimical to 
the interests of the Government” and to the “system of 
intimidation” which the officers of the service were employ- 
ing to prevent clerks from “exercising their right to join a 
union.” He stated further: 


“T desire to secure direct statements from railway 
postal clerks as to whether, in any way, they have been 
so threatened or intimidated. If you have been ap- 
proached and an effort made to prevent you from join- 
ing or to force you to withdraw from a union or to cease 
your activities as a union man, state fully the circum- 
stances... . 

“The railway mail clerks have the right to organize. 
If the officers of the Department are endeavoring to 
prevent them from so doing by threats of discharge, 
such action is without legal authority or moral right. 
If I find conditions in the railway postal service to be 
generally such as has been represented, I shall introduce 
and do everything in my power to pass a bill to prevent 
the continuation of such un-American practices and 

26 Secretary Morrison of the A. F. of L. secured affidavits from the organizer 
at Boston who had been active among the railway mail clerks there, specifically 
denying the statements regarding the ten cent strike levy as well as other assertions 
not quite as preposterous. It is interesting to note that most of the assertions 
made in the clerk’s affidavits were indirect, ie., “it has been a matter of general 


conversation, etc. ... 
27 Senate Doc. 866 (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), pp. 47-8. 


168 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


to preserve to all government employees the right of 
petition which belongs to every citizen, and the right 
to form or join labor organizations for the improvement 
of their conditions. . . 

“Your answer will be held confidential except as to 
the facts stated, as it is my purpose merely to collect 
the information and present it to Congress without 
disclosing the names or any circumstances which would 
lead to the identification of my informants.” 


The questionnaire covered the Department’s anti-organ- 
ization activities, the effect of the “take-up-the-slack”’ 
orders, the degree of improvement which followed their 
modification after the conference of the service heads and 
the R. M. A. officers, and finally the effect of that policy 
as to delayed or unworked mails. 

To these questionnaires Mr. La Follette received thou- 
sands of replies which indicated, he said, that conditions 
in the R. M.S. were “probably more arbitrary than in any 
other branch of the civil service.”?® 

Of course the Department did not like this investigation 
and made every effort to find out what information was 
being given the Senator. His mail, he charged, “was sub- 
jected to an espionage almost Russian in character.” Let- 
Ha addressed to him were opened in violation of the postal 
aws.?° 

THE OPPOSITION TO THE “ANTI-GAG” BILLS 


Another effect of the Department’s anti-union activities 
was to take the interest of the American Federation of 
Labor in the rights of federal employees beyond the resolu- 
tion stage into the field of active politics. Through the 
efforts of President Gompers bills limiting the power of 
removal over civil servants and guaranteeing their right of 
association and appeal were introduced in both houses of 
Congress.°° Extended hearings which threw much light on 
the whole postal labor situation were held before the House 
Committee on Reform in the Civil Service. 

The Department and the President opposed these bills 

- SLU aretha Record (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 10729. 


8 The first ‘‘anti-gag’’ measure was introduced in January, 1910, at the sug- 
gestion of the A. F. of L., but it was not pushed and no action was taken re- 
garding it. This measure ‘was known as the Jones-Poindexter Bill. The more 
saint bill, which finally became law, was known as the Lloyd-La Follette 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 169 


with all their resources, holding that they endangered the 
discipline and efficiency of the service. President Taft gave 
public utterance to his opposition in a speech at Harrisburg, 
in which he said: “The government employees are a privi- 
leged class whose work is necessary to carry on the govern- 
ment and upon whose entry into the government service 
it is entirely reasonable to impose conditions that should 
not be and ought not to be imposed upon those who serve 
private employers.’’** 

Ranged against the bills was not only the influence of 
the administration, but also some of the most powerful 
employing interests in the land. Mr. James A. Emery 
appeared at the House hearings in opposition to the mea- 
sure as the counsel and representative of about one hundred 
and thirty manufacturers, employers, business men’s asso- 
ciations, and citizens’ alliances, of which the National 
Association of Manufacturers was but one. These interests 
evidently felt that, should the measure before Congress 
succeed and should government employees be guaranteed 
the right to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor, 
the organized labor movement throughout the country 
would be given a tremendous boost. If, on the other hand, 
the federal government could successfully prevent the effec- 
tive organization of its workers, its example would be of 
tremendous value to the anti-union movement. Their formal 
opposition was based upon the grounds that, as good citi- 
zens, they could not see the government’s authority threat- 
ened by its employees, who had sworn to obey it, taking 
another obligation of loyalty to an “outside organization.” 
The authorities, too, were now taking the ground that they 
did not oppose organizations of civil servants provided they 
had no “outside affiliations.” Yet the ban which they had 
placed upon the unaffiliated Brotherhood of Railway Postal 
Clerks and the attitude they took towards the insurgent 
movement in the Railway Mail Association showed that 
they were opposed to any organized movement among the 
force whose policy they did not like or could not influence. 


THE PRESIDENT MODIFIES THE “GAG” 


Towards the end of the year, when it became apparent 
that Congress was overwhelmingly in favor of the pending 
% May 14, 1911, at Harrisburg, Pa. 


170 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


legislation, the Administration changed its tactics and tried 
to forestall the favorable sentiment by a policy of conces- 
sion. On December 9, 1911, the President amended the 
civil service rules to provide that in the future no employee 
could be definitely removed or demoted without charges 
having been preferred and an opportunity for written 
defense given the employee. ‘This attempted to concede 
by executive regulation what part of the pending Lloyd- 
La Follette bill purposed to accomplish by legislation. The 
President’s concession was hailed as a victory for the 
employees, but it was a concession as to the least important 
part of the pending bill and it in no way restricted the fight 
for complete legislative victory. It was, too, no more than 
a paper victory, for it still left the executive officials with 
all their former power after they had gone through certain 
prescribed forms. 

Four months later, just when the bill was about to come 
up in the House of Representatives, the President made a 
final effort by withdrawing the “gag” itself and substituting 
the following order under the date of April 8, 1912: 


“Tt is hereby ordered that petitions or other commu- 
nications regarding public business addressed to the 
Congress or either House or any committee or member 
thereof by officers and employees in the civil service 
of the United States shall be transmitted through the 
heads of their respective departments or offices, who 
shall forward them without delay with such comment 
as they may deem requisite in the public interest. 
Officers and employees are strictly prohibited either 
directly or indirectly from attempting to secure legisla- 
tion, or to influence pending legislation, except in the 
manner above prescribed. 

“This order supersedes the Executive orders of Jan- 
uary 31, 1902, January 25, 1906, and November 26, 
1909, regarding the same general matter.” 


THE ‘ANTI-GAG” FIGHT IN CONGRESS 


This was a more notable victory, but it still left civil 
servants without complete guarantees as to the right of 
petition and association. Besides, it came too late. Ten 
days later the Lloyd bill passed the House with but one 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 171 


dissenting vote*? as an amendment to post office appro- 
priation bill for 1913. In the Senate, however, the measure 
met with decided opposition. When the Post Office Com- 
mittee reported the appropriation bill towards the end of 
July, the only part of the Lloyd amendment which it 
retained was the rather meaningless section providing for 
the right of written charges and an opportunity for reply 
before removal, while the vital ‘‘anti-gag” section which 
guaranteed the right to organize and petition Congress was 
stricken out. But after protracted debate which centered 
chiefly about the possibility of a strike in the government 
service if the House provision which, it was contended, 
“Invited” and “encouraged” affiliation with the American 
Federation of Labor was adopted, the Senate restored the 
“anti-gag” section. But it so amended it as to provide 
against affiliation with any “outside organization imposing 
an obligation or duty to . . . engage in any strike against 
the United States,” or which proposed to assist postal 
employees in such a strike. 

It has at times been said that in inserting this amend- 
ment, which was offered by Senator Reed of Missouri, the 
Senate thought it was voting to bar affiliation with the 
American Federation of Labor. But the basis for such 
assertion is slight. Mr. Gompers was consulted before the 
Reed amendment was offered** and it was adopted with the 
Federation’s full knowledge and approval. Besides, it was 
accepted by the Senate in preference to a substitute drawn 
by the National Civil Service Reform League which specif- 
ically barred organizations which were “secret” or “affiliated 
with any outside organization.’’*+ Judging from the debates 
in the Senate,*° the Reed amendment seems to have been 
offered largely to ease the minds of those Senators who 
feared that affiliation with the Federation of Labor might 
draw federal employees into a strike against the govern- 
ment. 

In attempting to arrive at any estimate of the legisla- 
ture’s intentions in passing the Lloyd-La Follette act, one 
all-important fact must be remembered, namely, that Con- 


ii The leader of the Republican minority, Representative J. R. Mann, of 
- -Thinois. 
_ 83 Postal Review (1916) p. 51. Also Union Postal fm August, 1912, p. 1. 
 * Congressional Record (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 10793. 
Same, pp. 10670-7, 10727-33 (La Follette’s speech), 1790-804. 


172 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


gress acted primarily to rectify what it considered to be 
certain grave abuses of authority on the part of the execu- 
tive, and that prominent among these abuses were anti- 
union activities of the Post Office Department. But, after 
all, discussion as to this point is merely academic, for 
Congress, the executive, and the employees have always 
interpreted the Lloyd-La Follette act as specifically guar- 
anteeing the right to affiliate with the A. F. of L., and no 
attempt has ever been made by any one in authority to 
place any other interpretation upon the law.*® 

The text of this act which was approved August 24, 1912, 
is as follows:*7 


Sec. 6. That no person in the classified civil service 
of the United States shall be removed therefrom except 
for such cause as will promote the efficiency of said 
service and for reasons given in writing, and the person 
whose removal is sought shall have notice of the same 
and of any charges preferred against him, and be fur- 
nished with a copy thereof, and also be allowed a 
reasonable time for personally answering the same in 
writings; and affidavits in support thereof; but no 
examination of witnesses nor any trial or hearing shall 
be required except in the discretion of the officer making 
the removal; and copies of charges, notice of hearing, 
answer, reasons for removal, and of the order of 
removal shall be made a part of the records of the 
proper department or office, as shall also the reasons 
for reduction in rank or compensation; and copies of 
the same shall be furnished to the person affected upon 
request, and the Civil Service Commission also shall, 
upon request, be furnished copies of the same: Pro- 
vided, However, That membership in any society, asso- 
ciation, club, or other form of organization of postal 
employees not affiliated with any outside organization 
imposing an obligation or duty upon them to engage 
in any strike, or proposing to assist them in any strike, 
against the United States, having for its objects, among 

36 Postmaster General Burleson raised the question of the legality of affiliation 
under the Act of Aug. 24, 1912 (Post Office Department Reports, 1917, p. 33; 
ay Pe ice even he never tried to force such an interpretation of the 


Dp. 221. 
87 37 Stat., 555. This was Sec. Public Law 336 (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), the 
Post Office Appropriation Act for 1018. 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 173 


other things, improvements in the condition of labor 
of its members, including hours of labor and compensa- 
tion therefor and leave of absence, by any person or 
groups of persons in said postal service, or the pre- 
senting by any such person or group of persons of any 
grievance or grievances to the Congress or any member 
thereof shall not constitute or be cause for reduction 
in rank or compensation or removal of such person 
or groups of persons from said service. The right of 
persons employed in the civil service of the United 
States, either individually or collectively, to petition 
Congress, or any member thereof, or to furnish infor- 
mation to either house of Congress, or to any committee 
or member thereof, shall not be denied or interfered 
with. 


THE OLDER ASSOCIATIONS AND THE “ANTI-GAG” FIGHT 


It is the most important piece of legislation ever enacted 
affecting the rights of federal workers. Its passage was 
due almost entirely to the Harpoon’s campaign, the efforts 
of the American Federation of Labor, and the activities 
of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, which had 
urged the passage of such legislation ever since its formation 
in 1906. The leading employee organizations did little or 
nothing to help in the fight. The National Association of 
Letter Carriers and the United National Association of Post 
Office Clerks did, it is true, place themselves on record 
against the “gag.” The latter, at its convention, September, 
1911, passed resolutions approving the bill.*® The repre- 
sentatives of both associations, when subpoenaed, appeared 
before the Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads 
and urged the measure’s passage. But aside from these 
formal expressions they played no part in the “anti-gag” 
campaign. The officers of the Clerks’ and Carriers’ Asso- 
ciations who testified before the Senate Committee told 
the Senators that they would not have been present if it 
had not been for the subpoenas, since such action would 
have been in violation of the President’s orders.*® The 
president of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, 


38 Post Office Clerk, October, 1911, p. 73. 
89 Hearings: Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads: Post Office 
Appropriation Bill for 1913, p. 91. 


174 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


on the other hand, testified at both Senate and House 
hearings without subpoena or apology. 

At two successive conventions of the Railway Mail Asso- 
ciation it was impossible to get a majority of the delegates 
to endorse the Lloyd bill.*#° Even after that measure had 
passed the House of Representatives with but one negative 
vote, it was impossible for the progressive delegates at the 
New Orleans convention of 1912 to muster more than 
twenty votes in favor of a resolution of endorsement to 
forty-four which were cast against it.41 The year before, 
at Syracuse, the convention actually endorsed a similar 
proposition by a vote 41 to 23, but later the delegates took 
the advice of the national president,*? reconsidered their 
action and reversed themselves by a vote of 38 to 25.42 The 
national president, Mr. Schardt, in explaining his advice, 
said: “I argued for nearly an hour with Mr. Stewart at 
Syracuse for the right of direct petition to Congress, but 
when its dangers were clearly pointed out to me, I grasped 
the significance of the very positive views held by Mr. 
Stewart, Mr. Hitchcock, and President Taft. I would have 
been a poltroon and a traitor to the best interests of the 
clerks to have advised any other course than I did in the 
debates on the Lloyd bill. . . .’’*4 


ASSOCIATION OFFICERS APPROVE THE ELIMINATION OF THE 
GUARANTEE OF THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE 


While the legislation was under consideration in the 
Senate an attempt was made to strike out the clause guar- 
anteeing the right to organize and to substitute one which 
guaranteed to federal workers the right to petition Con- 
gress, either as individuals or in groups.*® Upon inquiry 
from Senator Reed as to whether the substitute clause was 
satisfactory, President Wm. E. Kelly of the National Asso- 
ciation of Letter Carriers wrote a letter giving his assurance 
that it met with the “hearty approval” of his association.** 


40 Hearings: Senate Subcommittee of Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads: 
Railway Mail Clerks, March, 1916: Statement of President E. J. Ryan of the 
PMA iD 112. 

41 Harpoon, No. 64; January, 1915. 

42 Railway Post Office, June, 1911 (Proceedings), p. 56. 

43 Same, pp. 56, 57. 

44 Quoted in the Harpoon, No. 64; January, 1915. 

45 Two substitutes, practically identical, were offered: one by Senator Reed, of 
Missouri, and one by Senator Nelson, of Minnesota; Congressional Record (62nd 
Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 10728. 

48 Congressional Meoeard (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 10727. 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 175 


President Schardt of the R. M. A., who had shortly come 
from the New Orleans convention, replied to the Senator in 
a long letter in which he strongly favored the right of appeal 
and held that the proposed substitute clause guaranteed 
it sufficiently. He added: 


“Tn the provision stricken out . . . there is a propo- 
sition which encourages affiliation with outside organi- 
zations among government employees without restric- 
tions. ... We who are in the service desire to make 
it clear that we have never urged and do not now urge 
that Congress should by legislation encourage govern- 
ment employees to form organizations or affiliate with 
outside organizations. We would prefer to have the 
organization feature eliminated, but would like the 
substance ... of the proviso... restored, granting 
us the right of appeal to Congress.’’*” 


Senator Bourne of Oregon, Chairman of the Committee 
on Post Offices and Post Roads, told the Senate that the 
representatives of the National Association of Letter Car- 
riers and the United National Association of Post Office 
Clerks had assured him that they were satisfied with the 
amendment recommended by the National Civil Service 
Reform League, which barred affiliation with “any outside 
organization.’’*® 

In setting forth the attitude of the spokesmen of the 
various employee organizations Senator Reed said: 


“T want to say that some four men claiming to repre- 
sent these organizations [the older associations]...... 
stated to me that they believed their right to petition 
Congress might be jeopardized by insisting upon the 
House proposition as it came here, and for that reason 
they desired to wait. One or two of them went to the 
extent of saying that they did not desire the right to 
organize as contemplated in the House bill, and went 
further and stated that they now did have organiza- 
tions that were not interfered with; but there are others 
[representatives of the unionized clerks and insurgent 
railway mail clerks] who have come to me since and 
have stated that they do desire the House provision 


47 Congressional Record (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 10727. 
48 Same, p. 10793. 


176 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


and that they feel that their rights are being infringed 
upon by Departmental orders.’’*® 


Ten years of the “gag” rule had kept the dominant postal 
organizations under the wing of the Department. ‘The 
officers of these organizations, all but one of whom were 
in the service, of course had to move cautiously in their 
advocacy of any measure to which the Department was 
opposed. That, it seems, is sufficient explanation of the 
attitude of the clerks’ and carriers’ associations with refer- 
ence to the anti-gag campaign. And this attitude, all but 
inevitable under the circumstances, makes it clear why the 
Department would approve only of such organizations as 
were “wholly within the service.” 


THE WAY IN WHICH THE DEPARTMENT CONTROLLED THE 
ASSOCIATIONS 


According to Senator La Follette, any leaders who took 
such a stand as that taken by the presidents of Letter Car- 
riers’ and Railway Mail Clerks’ Associations laid themselves 
open to the suspicion of being “controlled” by the Depart- 
ment.°° These leaders were not “controlled” by the Depart- 
ment in the crude and ordinary sense of the word. But 
they were most certainly dominated by the officials and, 
perhaps just as effectively as though they did the Depart- 
ment’s bidding outright, by the limitations of their own 
policy.** It was their purpose always to remain in the good 
graces of the administration. It hardly need be pointed 
out that in order to do that it was often necessary to sacri- 
fice part measure of the men’s cause and sometimes, as 
the R. M. A. Syracuse convention showed, such concession 
amounted to surrender. 

Leaders of the organizations which “stood” well with the 
Department often obtained special favors and concessions 
not allowed the representatives of the more independent 
employee groups. Thus at the time that Oscar F. Nelson, 


49 Same, p. 10728. 

50 Same, p. 10732. 

51 President Ryan of the R. M. A., telling the House Committee on Expendi- 
tures in the Post Office Department of how he got into disfavor with the Depart- 
ment by making a direct appeal to Congress, said: “From the system that did 
prevail in the organization, I am convinced that the Department always controlled 
the association through its officers.’’ Hearings, Part I, August 29, 1919, p. 32. n. 
this point see also statements of Senator La Follette, Congressional Record (62nd 
Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 10731. 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 177 


president of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, 
was dismissed from the service for violating the “gag” rule 
in connection with the publicity regarding sanitary condi- 
tions in the Chicago postoffice,*? Frank T. Rogers, president 
of the United National Association of Post Office Clerks, 
was granted an indefinite leave of absence and was per- 
mitted to remain in Washington contrary to the rules. 
When Secretary Morrison of the A. F. of L. asked the First 
Assistant, Dr. Grandfield, why Rogers was granted these 
special privileges which others did not enjoy, he was told 
“that Mr. Rogers had a special leave signed by the Post- 
master General himself and that whenever Mr. Rogers 
comes to Washington he comes to this office and explains 
his business and we grant him permission to-remain.”® 

Internal association politics was a factor of no small 
moment, though perhaps an unconscious one, in determining 
the leaders’ attitude towards the organization feature of 
the House bill. The factions present in every service group 
which favored closer affiliation with the trade union move- 
ment, though at the time comparatively small in number, 
were exceedingly active and persistent and seemed to be 
growing stronger steadily. The association leaders felt 
that the Lloyd-La Follette bill would give these “radicals” 
a freer hand and would help them in their fight against 
the conservative factions in control of the older organiza- 
tions. These leaders had a sort of vested interest in things 
as they were. The official attitude of opposition towards 
their opponents was of inestimable help to them. It was 
but natural, therefore, that they should oppose, or at least 
not be especially favorable towards, any legislation which 
they thought likely to weaken their position. 


OTHER REMEDIAL LEGISLATION: THE HOUR QUESTION 


The “anti-gag” fight gave the employees an opportunity 
to carry through several other remedial measures in the 
Post Office Act for 1913. In fact, the section in which the 
Clerks’ and Carriers’ Associations were most actively inter- 
ested was not the “anti-gag” provision but a section spon- 
sored by Representative Reilly of Connecticut regulating 
hours of labor. The clerks, it will be remembered, had been 


53 See above, p. 127. 
53 Union Postal Clerk, April, 1912, p. 12. 


178 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


unsuccessfully agitating for an eight-hour law from the 
time they had first begun to organize. 

In 1900, at the Department’s request, Congress inserted 
the following substitute for the carriers’ eight-hour law of 
1888 in the Appropriation Act for the fiscal year of 1901: 


“That letter carriers may be required to work as 
nearly as practicable only eight hours on each working 
day, but not in any event exceeding 48 hours during 
six working days of each week and such numbers of 
hours on Sunday, not exceeding eight, as may be 
required by the needs of the service. . . .”54 


This legislation was enacted to meet a specific situation 
and at the time of its passage was generally considered 
temporary. It was not included in the Appropriation Act 
for the next year, and under an opinion of the law officer 
of the Department the eight-hour law of 1888 again became 
effective.°® 

But after some years the Department began to question 
this ruling. A test case was brought in the Court of Claims 
in 1908 and a decision holding the provision of 1900 in force 
and superseding the act of 1888 was rendered in May, 
1910.°° This was just at the time of the publicity con- 
cerning working conditions in the Chicago post office. 

Although the Department did, in general, try to have 
the postmen’s schedules conform to the spirit of the law, 
that spirit was often disregarded. A law of the type in 
question easily lent itself to almost unconscious violation. 
Supervisory officials often found it not “practicable” to 
observe the eight-hour limitation and, since the act con- 
tained no provision for overtime compensation, the authori- 
ties could ignore it with impunity. 


CARRIERS’ HOURS 


From 1909, while the test case was still pending, the 
Carriers’ Association worked persistently for an hour law 
which would be more satisfactory to the force, while the 
clerks’ organizations worked equally hard for similar legis- 
lation. The carriers’ principal complaint concerning the 
operation of the existing law was that even though their 


54 31 Stat., 257. Approved June 2, 1900. 
5 Report of the Post Office Department (First Assistant), 1901, pp. 105-7. 
% 45 Cl. R. 476 (May 31, 1910): Van Doran vs. United States. 


CLIMAX OF THE “ANTI-GAG” CAMPAIGN 179 


actual tours might be but eight hours, these tours extended 
over very much longer periods during which they were 
always on call. According to Dr. Grandfield, the First 
Assistant Postmaster General, although about 85 per cent 
of the men finished their work within ten hours and 95 per 
cent within eleven hours, there were some tours which ex- 
tended over twelve or thirteen hours.5? Mr. Cantwell, the 
national secretary of the Letter Carriers’ Association, ‘told 
the Senate Post Office Committee that carriers’ tours existed 
over periods of anywhere from eight to fourteen hours, while 
there were many instances reported to the organization 
of schedules extending to sixteen hours and, in one case at 
least, to eighteen hours.°® 


THE REILLY EIGHT-IN-TEN-HOUR LAW 


The section of the Act of August 24, 1912, regulating 
hours, is known as the “Reilly eight-in-ten-hour law.’ 
It provided that, beginning March 4, 1913, carriers and 
clerks at first and second class offices “shall be required to 
work not more than eight hours a day, provided that the 
eight hours of service shall not extend over a longer period 
than ten consecutive hours.” It also provided for pro rata 
pay for overtime, for Sunday closing of post offices, and 
for compensatory time on one of the six days following 
Sunday where the needs of the service required work on 
that day. 

The Department opposed this legislation just as it had op- 
posed the eight-hour law in 1888. The Postmaster General 
and his First Assistant both contended that the service could 
not possibly be run under such a system without destroying 
its efficiency and enormously increasing the expense of oper- 
ation.®® But 1912 was a bad year for the postal administra- 
tion. It had fallen from legislative grace. Congress seemed 
determined to combat its opposition to employee measures 
and to give the men what they asked. Another factor 
which aided the employee cause was that the “gag” was 
practically nullified while the appropriation bill was in 


57 Hearings: Subcommittee No. 1 of House Committee on Post nae ie and Post 
Roads, on Post Office Appropriation Bill for 1913; January, 1912, 9. 

58 Hearings: Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post oad: Post Office 
Appropriation Bill for 1913; pp. 79, 80. 

® Public Law 336, Sec. i (62nd Cong., 2nd Sess.), 37 Stat., 554. 

00 House Hearings cited, p. 77. For the most complete and comprehensive argu- 
ment against the bill see ‘Postmaster General Hitchcock’s letter to Senator Bourne, 
Chairman of the Senate P. O. Committee, Jan. 10, 1912; same, pp. 77-9. 


180 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


the hands of the committee. Organization representatives 
were present at the Senate hearings by subpoena from the 
chairman where it was felt necessary to take this precaution 
to evade the executive order. They were thus able to 
present their own cases and combat the Department’s argu- 
ments as they had not been able to do for more than a 
decade. 

The Act of 1912 also provided for a new classification 
for railway postal clerks with automatic promotions, as 
well as a considerable increase in their travel pay. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF THE LLOYD- 
LA FOLLETTE ACT 


The immediate effect of the Lloyd-La Follette Act 
throughout the service was to hearten the groups which 
favored affiliation with the American Federation of Labor. 
Those who had formerly looked upon the proposition with 
favor, but hesitated because of the hostile attitude of the 
authorities and uncertainty as to their own legal rights, 
now had their doubts removed. 


THE A. F. OF L., THE BROTHERHOOD, AND THE RAILWAY MAIL 
ASSOCIATION 


The 1910-11 efforts of the A. F. of L. to organize federal 
labor unions of railway mail clerks and ultimately unite 
these locals in a national union had failed because the 
character of the movement was not such as to enable it 
to stand against the Department’s active opposition. The 
A. F. of L. had worked through its own organizers and 
agents without seeking the help, cooperation, or advice of 
the clerks’ logical national leaders like Urban A. Walter 
and Van Dyke When the Department set out to break 
up the locals its efforts met with a large measure of success. 
The Federation of Labor looked upon the Brotherhood just 
as many of its own members and leaders did, as a dual 
membership organization for Railway Mail Association 
progressives whose chief purpose was to gain control of the 
Association and to make it over into a truly useful and 
representative labor organization. Yet the Brotherhood 
was on record as favoring affiliation with the Federation 
of Labor, while its most active leaders, as well as the 
Harpoon, had declared that it would organize on a perma- 
nent basis as a challenge to the Railway Mail Association 
should the latter continue in its old ways. 


1 Harpoon, No. 80, June 29, 1916. 
181 


182 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Accordingly, upon the passage of the Act of August 24, 
1912, and after the Railway Mail Association had failed to 
act on many important items favored by the Brotherhood 
and the progressive group, Urban A. Walter and others set 
out to reorganize the Brotherhood on a permanent basis 
and to include within it what remained of the federal labor 
unions of railway postal clerks. After about a year, in 
May, 1914, the A. F. of L. granted the organization a 
national charter.2. The Brotherhood of Railway Postal 
Clerks thus became the second national union of postal 
workers to cast its lot with the official labor movement. 

The establishment of the Brotherhood created a situation 
in the railway mail service not unlike that which had long 
obtained among the post office clerks. But the relation 
between the new hostile rivals was different in several 
important respects from that which existed in the older 
camp. In the first place, the Brotherhood continued to a 
great extent as a dual membership organization. A large 
number of its adherents remained members in good standing 
in the Railway Mail Association and continued to work 
with its progressive wing. This was in large part due to 
the fact that the R. M. A. was one of the most successful 
benevolent and insurance organizations in the entire service, 
and members hesitated to surrender its advantages in that 
regard. Secondly, the Harpoon was the Brotherhood’s 
official organ and its wide, in fact; general, circulation in. 
the railway mail service gave the new union a direct 
influence far greater than that which it could have wielded 
by force of members alone. When the Brotherhood was 
chartered its membership was about 1,200, while the 
Harpoon reached about ten or twelve thousand railway 
postal clerks. 

Many of the Brotherhood’s achievements were gained 
directly through the Railway Mail Association. The officers 
of that organization had entrée at Washington where the 
new group could not even hope “to look in.”” Nevertheless 
the union was often able to bring sufficient pressure to 


2The formation of the Brotherhood under the leadership of the editor of the 
Harpoon recalls the part which independent postal journals and their editors have 
played in the formation of employee organizations. The National Association of 
Letter Carriers in the days of its beginning was strengthened to no small extent 
by the support it received from the Postal Record (above, p. 69). The convention 
which brought the Railway Mail Association into being was held at the call of 
the R. M. S. Bugle (above, p. 120), and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ 
scapes? was founded under the leadership of the R. F. D. News (above, 
pp 


EFFECTS OF THE LLOYD-LA FOLLETTE ACT 183 


bear to compel the Association leaders to push and obtain 


measures for which they would not otherwise have thought 
of asking. 


THE CARRIERS AND THE AFFILIATION QUESTION 1900-1905 


The affiliation question had always been a live issue 
among the letter carriers. In 1900, President Gompers had 
sent letters to the branches of the National Association of 
Letter Carriers urging them to use their influence to bring 
that organization into the American Federation of Labor. 
A few months later he addressed the Association’s national 
convention to the same effect. Late in 1902 President 
Keller of the carriers held a number of conferences with 
Mr. Gompers at which the affiliation issue was considered. 
The postmen’s leaders felt, however, that the time was not 
yet ripe for their organization to cast its lot with the Labor 
Federation. 

In 1903 President Keller addressed the convention of the 
A. F. of L. He told the delegates that the letter carriers 
were entering upon their “final period of organization” and 
that the time was not far distant when delegates from his 
association would be found in the councils of the American 
Federation of Labor.t The carriers’ convention that year 
ordered the appointment of a committee to inquire into 
the advisability of affiliation and to report their recom- 
mendations to the next convention scheduled to meet in 
1905. The committee’s report, though expressing friend- 
ship for the labor body, advised against affiliation on the 
grounds that the character of the postman’s employment 
made it “highly mexpedient, if not to the last degree dan- 
gerous,” to enter into “entangling alliances with any other 
organization.” The report was unanimously adopted by 
the convention.’ This position was the same as that taken 
by the Clerks’ Association in 1902.° 

Though the carrier affiliationists continued to agitate, the 
issue remained pretty much in the background for the next 
four or five years until the hour question and the general 
unrest throughout the service brought it to the fore again 

8 Postal Record, October, 1900, p. 299. 
“American Federation of Labor: Proceedings, 1903, p. 180. 


5 Postal Record, October, 1905, p. 227. 
© Above, pp. 94-5, 


184 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


about 1910. During the next two years it again became a 
very live issue. 


CLERKS’ FEDERATION ATTEMPTS TO EXTEND ITS JURISDICTION 


The National Federation of Post Office Clerks, which had 
always been committed to the principle of a single national 
union of postal workers, felt that affiliation sentiment was 
sufficiently strong in 1911 to warrant its taking a first step 
towards the realization of its ideal. Accordingly it asked 
the Executive Council of the A. F. of L. to extend its juris- 
diction so that it might include letter carriers in its mem- 
bership. The council took the matter under consideration 
and suggested a meeting of the clerks’ and carriers’ officers 
with a view to amalgamating the two bodies into a single 
organization. After some correspondence a meeting was 
arranged between the carriers’ and A. F. of L. leaders. The 
former preferred not to have a representative of the clerks 
present. 

The carriers were anxious above all else to keep their 
organization intact. They opposed the granting of charters 
to local carrier unions or the admission of carriers into any 
other postal organizations. The A. F. of L., evidently con- 
vinced by the National Association’s arguments, refused to 
authorize the admission of letter carriers into its ranks by 
either of the methods to which they objected.” 

A representative of the A. F. of L. addressed the post- 
men’s 1911 convention and the national president discussed 
affiliation in his report to the delegates. He raised the 
question as to whether the Association had much to gain 
by joining the labor movement and added: “One thing is 
certain, and that is that the carriers as a body must work 
as a unit in their organization work to accomplish results, 
and if they decide to affiliate with the American Federation 
of Labor the whole institution should go in a body, or else 
if they decide not to affiliate . . . every possible effort 
should be made to resist any attempt to divide the carriers 
by forming separate organizations within their ranks.’ 


CARRIER REFERENDUM DEFEATS AFFILIATION 


The convention took no action regarding the question. 
During the next two years agitation continued and in- 
7 Postal Record, October, 1911, pp. 305-6. 8 Same, p. 306. 


EFFECTS OF THE LLOYD-LA FOLLETTE ACT 185 


creased, especially after the passage of the Lloyd-La Fol- 
lette law. The next national convention, which met at San 
Francisco in September, 1918, acting on the president’s 
recommendation, ordered a referendum on the question. 
The ballot was taken during 1914 and the proposition was 
decisively defeated by 19,783 votes to 4,118. The only im- 
portant local branch to vote affirmatively was Chicago, 
where the vote stood 911 ayes and 725 noes.’° 

This referendum showed that affiliation sentiment was 
about as extensive among the city carriers as among the 
post office and railway postal clerks. The union organiza- 
tions in both those branches were decidedly minority move- 
ments. In 1914 the Brotherhood had about 1,200 members 
to the Railway Mail Association’s 13,000, while the National 
Federation of Post Office Clerks had between four and five 
thousand to the United National Association’s 22,000. In 
other words, in the three services combined the affiliation- 
ists amounted to about one-seventh, or at most one-sixth, 
of the entire organized force. Yet in spite of their small 
numbers, the affiliationists were most active and during the 
next few years they saw themselves vindicated and their 
numbers increased by leaps and bounds as a result of the 
repressive tactics of the Burleson administration. 

®Same, September, 1914, p. 250. The official vote stood’ 3,968 for, and 18,769 
against, ‘affiliation. These figures do not include 150 ayes and 1,014 noes which 


reached the secretary too late to be included in the official tabulation. 
109 Same, p. 248. 


CHAPTER XII 
THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM 


BURLESON ACCENTUATES THE DEPARTMEN T’S TRADITIONAL 
LABOR POLICY 


The real test of strength of the postal organizations came 
during the eight years of the Burleson administration. Mr. 
Burleson assumed office six months after the passage of the 
Lloyd-La Follette “anti-gag law” and on the very day, 
March 4, 1913, on which most of the other remedial legis- 
lation of 1912 became effective. But instead of reversing 
the Department’s traditional labor policy according to the 
spirit of the new legislation, he accentuated it and gave the 
postal service what the workers called a “sweatshop repu- 
tation.’ 

In a measure, but by no means altogether, Mr. Burle- 
son’s labor policy was the result of his general adminis- 
trative policy. But here, too, he was merely accentuating 
the Department’s traditional methods. As it was Mr. 
Hitchcock’s purpose to economize in order to make the ser- 
vice self-sustaining, so it was Mr. Burleson’s purpose to 
economize in order to make it yield a surplus.2, Every effort 
of his administration was bent in that direction, so that the 
aim of the postal establishment as expressed in the Depart- 
ment’s old motto, “service, celerity, and certainty,” was 
changed to “count the cost.” 

Mr. Burleson’s attitude toward his employees was much 
the same as Mr. Bristow’s of a decade before. His policy 
was but a short step away from that of his immediate prede- 
cessor, Mr. Hitchcock. Relations between the administra- 
tion and the more militant organizations had reached the 
breaking point before Mr. Burleson’s coming. The advanced 
minorities were steadily forcing the more cautious majori- 

1 Letter of Thomas F, Flaherty to President Wilson, July 8, 1919. 


2See Hard, William: ‘‘Mr. Burleson, Republican Test,’’ in the New Republic, 
May 24, 1919, p. 111. 


186 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM _ 187 


ties into positions more and more independent of depart- 
mental oversight. Thus, from the break which had already 
occurred between the Hitchcock administration and the 
more advanced groups, it was but a comparatively short 
step to Burleson’s coldness and finally his hostility towards 
nearly all employee organizations. 

Yet, while all this is true, the fact must not be overlooked 
that Mr. Burleson himself did a great deal to make the 
growth of organization militancy inevitable. His ambition 
to turn the largest possible number of dollars back into the 
federal treasury at the end of the fiscal year led him to 
block increases in wages when soaring prices were cutting 
their purchasing power in half and to advocate the nulli- 
fication of the employees’ protective laws so that he could 
work the force longer and harder without increasing costs. 
On several occasions he went so far as to “interpret” the 
law so as to twist it out of its meaning in violation of the 
intent of Congress, or to circumvent or ignore it altogether. 
He waged a relentless war on postal associations, declining 
to meet their officers and refusing to deal with his workers 
save as individuals. 


DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDS NULLIFICATING EMPLOYEE 
MEASURES 


In his 1914 report, the first to cover a full year in 
office, Mr. Burleson was gratified to announce a surplus 
of $3,600,000.* At the same time he or his assistants asked 
Congress: 


1. To make all promotions from grade to grade 
biennial instead of annual.® 

2. To repeal the 8-in-10-hour law for clerks and 
carriers and return to 48 hours a week basis, which that 
law had superseded, and to be permitted to work em- 
ployees up to twelve hours a day.® 

3. To reduce the pay of substitute clerks and carriers 
from 40 and 35 cents to 30 cents an hour.’ 

4. To repeal the one day rest in seven provision, and 


3? Post Office Department Reports, 1914, p. 5. 

*Some of these recommendations were repeated in subsequent reports. 
5 Post Office Department Reports, 1914, pp. 63, 70, 143. 

® Same, pp. 64, 141-2. 

7 Same, pp. 62, 143. 


188 UNIONISM 'N A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


permit the Department to grant compensatory time for 
Sunday work at its convenience.® 

5. To turn the rural delivery service over to a private 
syndicate on a contract basis.° 


The officers of the Department fought hard, but without 
avail, to get favorable action on these recommendations 
while the postal appropriation bill was in committee.*° The 
employees fought equally hard in opposition. Most of the 
recommendations were, of course, hopeless from the start, 
and it was almost unnecessary to wage a vigorous fight 
against them. But the biennia! promotion item was not 
of this class. It seemed for a time to stand a good chance of 
passage. It was a measure of importance to every class of 
workers, to post office and railway mail clerks and carriers 
alike. It roused their united opposition and was defeated 
because of it.1t1 The adoption of the measure would have 
meant an average loss in pay of about eleven per cent to 
the workers affected. It was urged as a necessary measure 
of economy, though, as the workers pointed out, there was 
no suggestion to cut the salaries of postmasters receiving 
from four to eight thousand a year. 


DEPARTMENT REDUCES THE SALARIES OF ‘‘COLLECTORS” 


This was but a beginning of the Department’s new policy 
of economy and retrenchment. On February 4, 1915, while 
the above recommendations were under consideration in 
Congress, the First Assistant, Daniel C. Roper, sent an order 
to all postmasters as follows: 


“Work of carriers collecting mail is less exacting and 
important than that performed by carriers in effecting 
deliveries of mail. It is, therefore, desired that in 
the future the maximum salary of letter carriers as- 
signed to the collection of mail be fixed at $1,000 per 
BNNs mee ie, 


There was no warrant under the law for the issue of such 
an order. The statute made or authorized no distinction 
between letter carriers and collectors.t?, Such a distinction 
had been urged on Congress in 1885 and though repeated 


8 Same, pp. 61, 143. ®Same, pp. 34-37. 

10 Hearings: House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, Dec. 8-9, 1914. 
11 Congressional Record (63rd Cong., 38rd Sess.), pp. 4400-1. 

1234 Stat., 1206 (1907). 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM _ 189 


in several subsequent reports of the Department no legis- 
lative action was taken upon it.1* One of the earliest acts 
of the National Association of Letter Carriers was to place 
itself on record as opposed to any such proposal.!t The law 
spoke only of “letter carriers” and made all workers of that 
class eligible for promotion up to the highest grade. It 
authorized reductions from higher to lower grades only 
when an employee’s “efficiency falls below a fair standard 
or whenever necessary for purposes of discipline.” 


EMPLOYEES COMPELLED TO SIGN WAIVERS OF THEIR RIGHTS 


As a result of the First Assistant’s order, local post- 
masters took immediate steps not only to close the $1,100 
and $1,200 grades to collectors, but also to reduce to $1,000 
a year all employees of that service who were receiving 
more. The men concerned were summoned to the office and 
presented with a paper containing the following statement, 
which was supposed to be a waiver of their rights: 


“T, _—_—_—_——., a letter carrier in the ————— post 
office, assigned to duty as a collector, and understand- 
ing that the $1,200 grade is a reward for specially 
meritorious service as a letter carrier, and desiring to 
remain assigned as a collector, hereby consent to accept 
a salary of $1,000 per annum from ——————,, for my 
services as a letter carrier assigned to the collection 
branch of the service: Provided, That should I at any 
future time be permanently assigned or transferred to 
the exclusive delivery of mail I shall be eligible to pro- 
motion in due course.” 


If any carrier hesitated or refused to sign this waiver he 
was given an opportunity to sign this alternative: 


“J _______. a _ letter carrier in the ————— post 
office, assigned to duty in the collection branch, and 
understanding that only men who are receiving $1,000 
or less salary are to be retained in the collection branch, 
and that my retention in the collection service would, 
therefore, be compensated at $1,000 per annum, request 
to be transferred to permanent duty as a letter carrier 
in the delivery branch, understanding that the $1,200 
grade in which I am at present is granted as a reward 

33 “Postal Salaries,” p. 56. 14 Above. 


1909 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


for specially meritorious service, and that if my ser- 
vices are not hereafter satisfactory as a carrier I will 
not be reassigned to the collection service or be retained 
in the carrier service if found deficient as a carrier.’’® 


It was a plain case of coercion and duress, but the em- 
ployee had little choice but to accede. It was a choice 
between the loss of his job and a reduction of one or two 
hundred dollars in salary and in almost every case the 
carrier chose to keep his job. 


THE CARRIERS OBTAIN LEGISLATIVE REDRESS 


The situation occasioned a great deal of resentment and 
ill feeling. The carriers’ representatives brought the case 
to the attention of Congress and secured the incorporation 
of a provision in a resolution passed July 28, 1916, con- 
tinuing the appropriations of the fiscal year of 1915 for 
1916, to the effect that carriers whose salaries had been 
reduced under the First Assistant’s order should be restored 
to their former grades.1* The appropriation act for the next 
year contained a like provision and forbade the Department 
to make any distinction in salary between carriers assigned 
to collection and carriers assigned to delivery.*? 


THE POST OFFICE EFFICIENCY RATING SYSTEM 


At the same time the Department took full advantage of 
the existing law and instituted a systematic reduction and 
scaling down in grade of all employees, clerk and carrier, 
who did not measure up to its standards of efficiency. This 
standard was measured by a newly instituted efficiency 
rating scheme which in itself caused no end of dissatisfac- 
tion and unrest. The regulations governing this system 
provided: , 


“Comparative ratings shall be given, on a scale of 
one hundred, on the quantity of work the employees 
turn out. Such ratings shall be based on observations 
of the employee’s work supplemented, whenever pos- 
sible, by actual counts of the amounts done during brief 
periods. Clerks and carriers who set the standard for 
the office with relation to the work performed shall be 

18 For these two documents see Appendix to Congressional Record (63rd Cong., 


8rd Sess.), pp. 845. 
16 “Postal Salaries,” p. 62. 17 Same. 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM 191 


rated one hundred. No employee shall be promoted to 
the $1,200 grade if his rating is less than 90 per cent.” 


In addition to the general and fundamental objections 
which working forces have always raised against efficiency 
rating schemes and systems of “scientific management,” the 
post office clerks and carriers objected that this particular 
system was unfair in its distribution of credits and demerits. 
They claimed that, while it provided ample penalties for 
errors, it made no adequate reward for merit. But the 
feature which roused more opposition was the speed test, 
ie., ‘the actual counts of amounts done in brief periods.” 


DEPARTMENT MAKES “READJUSTMENTS” IN GRADES AND 
SALARIES 


But, nevertheless, the scheme-went into effect and was 
of great value to the Department in its attempt to cut 
down expenses. Large numbers of reductions took place 
everywhere, usually from the $1,100 or $1,200 grades to the 
$1,000 grade, but there were a great many “adjustments” 
which were far more drastic. In the three years, 1915-1917 
inclusive, 729 letter carriers were reduced from the regular 
grades to substitutes, while in the six years from 1909 
through 1914 such reductions had been only 59.1% At the 
same time scores of superannuated employees who had 
spent their lives in the service were dropped from the rolls. 


IT URGES THE DISMISSAL OF SUPERANNUATED EMPLOYEES 


There were some postmasters who hesitated to fall in line 
with the Department’s policy. At a convention of the 
National Association of Postmasters and again in his 1914 
report, First Assistant Postmaster General Roper upbraided 
them for their hesitancy, saying: 


“Some postmasters refrain from humanitarian rea- 
sons from recommending demotions and removals in 
accordance with the declining efficiency of employees. 
. . . The only proper course for the Department 
and for the postmasters and the course prompted by 
humanitarian interests is to put on notice all employees 
that they will be continued in office only so long as 
they are capable of earning the salaries paid them and 

18 Congressional Record (65th Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 5905. 


192 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


that salaries will be scaled down and readjusted from 
time to time to meet the declining efficiency and earn- 
ing power of clerks and carriers.’’® 


The whole process of “scaling down” and “readjusting”’ 
affected principally the older men. The reductions to the 
substitute class caused even more friction than dismissals 
from the service. The men who were dropped were gone, 
but the men who were reduced were around to talk and 
grumble. The work of substitute carriers was hardly less 
trying than that of the regulars. They were obliged to 
report for duty along with the rest and remain at hand for 
call. They were paid by the hour at the rate of thirty-five 
or forty cents, though the Department had tried to have the 
rate reduced to thirty cents. To earn enough to get along 
when $45 or $50 a month was the average earning of these 
workers in larger offices?® involved a measure of scraping 
and worry which was trying even to robust young entrants 
to the serviee. 


EMPLOYEES’ PROTECTIVE LAWS VIOLATED 


Supervisory officials, whether they liked it or not, had 
no choice but to direct the work of their subordinates in 
accordance with the general policy of the administration. 
With “economy” the rule of the day, they were expected 
to keep expenses down. Their own records and advance- 
ments depended largely on the savings they were able to 
show in their little field of authority. This spirit, along 
with certain rulings of the Department which gave the 
“supervisories” their cues, resulted in the violation of a 
number of important employee protective laws.*t Letter 
carriers were often compelled to report early and put in 
work prior to their regular time for reporting for duty. 
They were often required, too, to work on Sundays. The 
law provided that overtime could be exacted “in cases of 
emergency, or if the needs of the service require.” But the 
workers were able to marshal convincing data to show that 

19 Post Office Department Reports, 1914, p. 144. 

20 Hearings: House Special Subcommittee of Committee on Post Offices and 
Post Roads, ‘‘Salaries of Postal Employees,’’ December, 1917, January, 1918, p. 171. 
This was the average for large offices like Chicago for which hg figures were 
given. The general average was about $35 a month. See same, 


77. 
21 Hearings: House Committee on Expenditures in Post Office Departed: July, 
1917; Investigation of Expenditures in Post Office Department, pp. 3-8. 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM 198 


the department was using the “needs of the service” clause 
to make overtime a regular occurrence so as to keep down 
the size of the force.** 

In the case of distributors, also, the spirit of the law was 
violated day after day when these employees were com- 
pelled to give nine, ten, eleven and twelve hours of work. 
The holiday rebate law, which provided for compensatory 
time for holiday service upon one of the thirty days after 
such service had been performed, was regularly ignored. 
Instead of granting the men time off as the law contem- 
plated, the Department would pay overtime for holiday 
work. Acording to the testimony of Mr. Thomas F. 
Flaherty, secretary-treasurer of the National Federation 
of Post Office Clerks,?* the Department in effect falsified 
the records to prove that the men were working in excess 
of eight hours on other days, rather than working a number 
of hours on some particular holiday for which service they 
were entitled to compensatory time off. In a like manner 
the Sunday compensatory time provision was also fre- 
quently violated. 


RAILWAY MAIL PAY CHANGED FROM A WEIGHT TO A SPACE 
BASIS 


But savings such as these, even in their grand total, were 
but a drop in the bucket as compared with the Depart- 
ment’s total outlay. The administration saw clearly that, 
if any sizable surplus were to be shown, large cuts would 
have to be made in the big items of expense. The biggest 
of these, next to the total for salaries, was railway mail 
pay, i.e., compensation to the railroads for carrying mail. 
Heretofore the government had paid the roads on the basis 
of the weight of the mail transported. Mr. Burleson in- 
duced Congress to authorize a change in this method and 
permit the Department, instead, to pay the roads for the 
number of square feet of car space which it used. The 
authorities believed that the new system was more flexible 

*2 See letters of Secretary Thomas F. Flaherty of N. F. P. O. C. to President 
Wilson, October 6 and 24, 1916, and to Congressman Buchanan, January 9, 1917, in 
Congressional Record (64th Cong., 2nd Sess.), pp. 1308-9. Also testimony of Mrs. 
Frank Halas before House Committee on Post Office Expenditures, July 20, 1917, 
and before House Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, February 19, 1917, 
and time sheets for Chicago Post Office, Postal Review, 1917, p. 45. See also 
Hearings before House Committee on Expenditures in Post Office Department, 


August 26, 1919, p. 8. 
28 Hearing cited on Expenditures in Post Office Department, July, 1917, pp. 3-8. 


194 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


than the old. They felt that it permitted great economies 
by making drastic cuts in railway mail pay possible where 
the old system kept that item irreducible. 


THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE EFFICIENCY RATING SYSTEM 


Even before the space system went into effect on Novem- 
ber 1, 1916, the Department. began a thoroughgoing reor- 
ganization of the railway mail service. Readjustments were 
made similar to those in the post offices, and an efficiency 
rating system, on which work had been begun during Mr. 
Hitchcock’s final months in office, was put into operation. 

This scheme, like the one in use in the post office, was 
a merit-demerit system, which included more than one 
hundred items to which fixed numbers of plus and minus 
points were assigned.** It was more rigid and allowed less 
room for the arbitrary judgment of the supervisor to enter 
into the reckoning than the old “demerit system” which 
caused so much complaint in 1910 and 1911. But it was 
badly conceived in its details. Little failings could cancel 
out acts of greatest merit to an extent utterly ridiculous. 
A clerk who risked his life to save the mail in a hold-up 
got 500 plus points. A clerk who lost his mail key got 500 
minus points. To a lesser extent such discrepancies of credit 
ran right through the list of items. The minuses over- 
whelmingly outpointed the pluses; and while demerits car- 
ried their penalties in loss of promotion, reduction and 
dismissal, merits, aside from their ability to cancel an equal 
number of minuses, were their own rewards.?®> But in the 
railway mail service, as among the clerks and carriers, it 
was the ‘‘speed test” which roused most opposition. Resolu- 
tions of protest were passed at regular organization meetings 
as well as at special mass meetings, and finally Congress 
was petitioned for relief. 


THE REORGANIZATION OF THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 


But meanwhile the reorganization went on. With the 
space system of railway mail pay in effect, the Department 


4 Full text may be found in Hearings before Senate Subcommittee of Committee 
on Post Offices and Post Roads, March 17, 24, 25, 1916, pp. 51-61. 

*% An analysis showing some of the defects of this system may be found in 
an.article by Mr. William Hard, in the New Republic, April 19, 1919, p. 370, 
A defense of it was given by the General Superintendent of the Railway Mail 
Service, Mr. Alexander Stephens, before the House Committee on Post Offices 
and Post Roads, December 9, 1914. 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM 195 


undertook to cut down the amount of post office car space 
in operation by reducing distribution on trains. Between 
November 1, 1916, and June 30, 1918, the annual mileage 
traveled by railway post office cars was reduced from 
340,479,600 to 292,167,229, while the number of railway 
postal clerks in the service was reduced by 1,562, that is 
from 19,170 to 17,608.°° This meant a reduction of about 
13 per cent in the service personnel during a time when the 
increase in the volume of mail was about 14 per cent. Wher- 
ever possible, closed pouch transportation and distribution 
at terminal railway post offices was substituted for distri- 
bution on trains. This helped cut down the Department’s 
salary outlay, for terminals were usually of lower classi- 
fication than the eliminated train post offices. In fact, an 
order of the Postmaster General automatically reduced the 
classification of terminals, so that where the road clerks 
earned a maximum salary of $1,500 a year, terminal clerks 
received a maximum of $1,200.77 Scores of men were trans- 
ferred from trains to these stationary railway post offices. 
Heavy lines, such as the New York-Pittsburgh Railway 
Post Office, were served by five trains a day where six had 
formerly been a rule. In many instances the rest periods 
were heavily cut, so that men whose schedules had been 
six days on and six days off now worked six days and rested 
three.”§ 


CLERKS FORCED TO TRANSFER TO DISTANT POINTS 


At the same time all extraordinarily long runs were 
divided up so that twelve hours would constitute the maxi- 
mum of actual train service. The Department, of course, 
took this action without consulting the men affected, and 
instead of its arrangement meeting with hearty approval, 
it actually caused them additional hardship. The shorter 
runs were arranged in shorter work and rest periods, a 
scheme of things never approved of by the clerks. They 
claimed that a three-day rest period, for instance, even after 
a shorter work period than before, did not allow adequate 
time for rest and “home duties.” But far worse, clerks who 

2° Hearings: House Committee on Expenditures in Post Office Department, 
Ae en p., 42. 


28 Hearing before Special Subcommittee of House Committee on Post Offices and 
Post Roads, December, 1917, January, 1918; Salaries of Postal Employes, p. 120. 


196 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


happened to be living at a terminal of a divided line were 
ordered to change their residences to other points. In some 
instances they were compelled to leave the community in 
which they and their families had established homes and 
social connections and move to places one, two, sometimes 
three hundred miles away. And they were obliged to do 
this at their own expense. Some men who could not comply 
were removed from the service for violation of orders. 

Similar situations arose when clerks, made superfluous 
by the reorganization of train lines, were transferred to 
terminal points distant from their homes. When the New 
York-Chicago line was reorganized, crews whose schedules 
were six days on and six days off had six days on and but 
three days off. A number of clerks living at Syracuse, 
N. Y., who were not needed on the road, were ordered to 
the Grand Central Terminal Railway Post Office at New 
York City. When they notified the Department that they 
could not- afford to leave Syracuse and break their long- 
established ties, they were dismissed for failure to comply 
with orders.?° 


THE LAW FORBIDDING REDUCTIONS BECAUSE OF REORGANIZA- 
TION TRANSFERS, VIOLATED 


To prevent the reorganization from taking too great a 
toll of innocent victims, Congress incorporated a provision 
in the Appropriation Act of March 3, 1917, saying, “when 
railway postal clerks are transferred from one assignment 
to another because of changes in the service, their salaries 
shall not be reduced by reason of such change.’”° 

But this provision proved no more effective than so much 
other protective legislation. Clerks, transferred to points 
far from their homes or offered new assignments on distant 
lines or in terminals, found it cheaper and easier to “request 
voluntarily” that the Department assign them to lower 
classifications so that they could remain where they were.** 
Thus the administration was able to make further cuts in 
its salary outlay by “granting” the ‘voluntary requests” of 
employees for lower pay. 


29 Same, pp. 120, 122. 3039 Stat., 1065. 

81 House Hearings on Salaries of Postal Employees, above cited: Statement of 
President Ryan of R. M. A., p. 120; of Congressman Van Dyke, author of the 
provision of March 3, 1917, p. 146; of William J. Denning, General Superintendent 
of Railway Mail Service, p. 291. But on pp. 295-6 Mr. Denning denied that the 
Department was disregarding the spirit of the law. 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM 197 


This reorganization of the railway mail service, in addi- 
tion to making the railway postal clerks a bitterly hostile 
and discontented group of workers, reduced the efficiency 
of the postal service to so low a point as to rouse a storm 
of protest against the administration’s methods.*? 


THE DOMINATING POSITION IN THE ASSOCIATION OF THE NEW 
EDITOR OF R. F. D. NEWS 


The rural free delivery service had always been run 
at a tremendous loss to the government. Mr. Burleson 
found it responsible for a very large part of the usual postal 
deficit and he looked upon it as a great obstacle in the path 
of efforts to keep down expenses. Mr. Hitchcock, too, had 
found the costs of this branch an exceedingly disturbing 
factor to his economy plans. 

In 1908 the R. F. D. News was sold to Mr. W. D. Brown, 
a Washington attorney. This paper, it will be remembered, 
was the “official organ” of the National Rural Letter Car- 
riers’ Association, even though that organization did not 
own it, and even though its editor was not and had never 
been a rural letter carrier.** The new editor at once be- 
came very active in behalf ot postmen and it was not long 
before he was a dominating figure in the councils of the 
National Association. In 1910, or about two years after 
Brown had begun his relations with the organization, the 
national president was defeated for reelection at the Asso- 
ciation’s convention at Little Rock, Arkansas. It is said 
that the fight against the president was directed by Brown 
who opposed him because his policies conflicted with his 
own.** The carriers were then seeking a salary increase 
and a difference of opinion as to tactics had evidently arisen 
between the editor and the head of the organization. 

The News’ advocacy of a higher salary had brought it 
into sharp conflict with the Department, which was opposed 
to the proposition. Mr. Hitchcock, in his report for 1910, 

32 See press protests gathered by Union Postal Clerk (1918-19). Also, see Hard, 
William: ‘Mr. Burleson, Service Wrecker,’’ New Republic, April 12, 1919, pp. 332-4. 
Chambers of Commerce and civic bodies in all parts of the country "denounced 
the curtailment of the service. The New York Merchants’ Association made a 
special study of the situation. See Inquiry Concerning Mail Delays, Report by 
roth Committee on Postal Affairs, Merchants’ Association of New York, May 13, 

%3 Above, 


105. 
% Rural Listers Record (organ of National Federation of Rural Letter Carriers), 
April, 1920, p. 10. 


198 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


called attention to the “excessive cost of rural delivery” as 
one of the “principal inroad(s) into the profits of the postal 
service’ and announced that the costs of the branch must 
be reduced.*> The R. F. D. News interpreted this announce- 
ment as foreshadowing either a curtailment of the service 
or a reduction in carriers’ salaries,** and to counter the 
Department it made its campaign before Congress for a 
salary increase more vigorous than ever. And its efforts 
almost met with success. 


THE DEPARTMENT FORCES THE ASSOCIATION TO REBUKE THE 
NEWS 


The News’ continued attacks on what it termed Mr. 
Hitchcock’s “unfriendly” attitude towards rural delivery 
incurred the Department’s severe displeasure. But in spite 
of these strained relations, the Rural Carriers’ Association 
invited the head of the rural mail service, P. V. DeGraw, 
the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, to address its 
convention in September, 1910. Mr. DeGraw came to Little 
Rock but refused to take the platform until the Association 
repudiated the R. F. D. News and assured him that its 
“wantonly unjust” attacks did not represent the carrier 
body.*? A resolution which met with the official’s approval 
was drawn, and after an exceedingly bitter fight it was 
adopted. As a result the following legend has since appeared 
on the front page of the R. F. D. News: 


“The National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association is 
in no way responsible for articles appearing in the 
R. F. D. News unless signed by the proper officers of 
the association.” 


And this disclaimer appears directly below the announce- 
ment: 


“Official Organ of the National Rural Letter Car- 
riers’ Association.” 


This made the relations of the organization and its paper 
even more anomalous than ever. The R. F. D. News was 
the Association’s official organ, 1.e., its mouthpiece. Yet the 
Association had no control over its policy which might, for 

85 Post Office Department eer (Postmaster General), 1910, p. & 


8 RR, F, News, January, 1910, and several issues following. 
37 Same, October, 1910, pp. 486, 457-9, 467. 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM 199 


all the organization could do, be contrary to its wishes or 
desires. But the editor of the News continued as the Asso- 
ciation’s counsel and representative at the capital and re- 
mained as powerful and influential as ever in organization 
councils. The News became the rural carriers’ chief asset. 
The organization was subordinate to it in almost every 
respect. This was the situation in 1914 when this service 
first began to feel the effects of Postmaster General Burle- 
son’s policy of retrenchment. 


DEPARTMENT CHANGES BASIS OF COMPENSATION FOR RURAL 
CARRIERS 


Congress had always fixed the compensation of rural 
letter carriers at a certain maximum and had left it to the 
Department to arrange pay schedules on a basis of its 
choosing. The basis chosen was mileage. In 1904 twenty- 
four miles was fixed as the standard route for serving which 
the maximum salary was paid. At the same time propor- 
tionate deductions were made, according to a fixed schedule, 
for all routes below standard. 

The mileage basis was not ideal and the postal authorities 
had considered the inclusion of additional factors such as 
the quantity of mail handled or the character of the route. 
The plan, however, did not seem feasible. ‘Considering the 
service as a whole,” said the Postmaster General in his 1904 
report,** “the mileage basis is by far the most equitable 
that can be established. . . . This service is of such a 
character that exact equality for service rendered is not 
practicable.” 

The Appropriation Act for 1913 fixed the salary of rural 
postmen at “not exceeding $1,100 per annum.” That year 
the parcel post law went into effect and the work of the 
rural carriers was increased appreciably. They asked Con- 
gress, therefore, to increase their maximum salary by $100. 
Congress granted this request, and the Appropriation Act of 
1914 fixed the pay of these employees at “not exceeding 
$1,200 per annum.” 

The Department had opposed this increase. When it was 
enacted, instead of granting the advance and publishing 
new pay schedules as had been the custom, it suddenly 
announced a change in the basis of compensation which 


SP. 23, 


200 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


took into consideration not merely the length of the routes 
but also the time required to serve them, the number of 
pieces of mail carried and the weight of the mail.*® 

The Department claimed that in doing this it was acting 
within its proper legal authority.*? The fact that past 
administrations had not chosen to include factors other 
than mileage in fixing rural carriers’ pay did not in any 
way limit its freedom of action in that regard. And there 
does seem little question that the authorities had technical 
legal right on their side. 

But the carriers were greatly dismayed. The effect of 
the new order was to deprive thousands of them of an 
increase of pay which Congress had unquestionably intended 
them to have. The mileage basis had been in operation 
so long that everyone thought of it as fixed and established 
forever. The language of the legislation for the fiscal year 
1914 was exactly the same as that for other years and 
Congress, as well as the employees, fully expected that it 
would be carried out as in the past. The new schedule 
certainly did violence to the expressed wish of the legisla- 
ture and the postmen could see in it nothing other than a 
deliberate attempt on the part of the administration to 
nullify a law which it did not like. 

At the Association’s request, a bill was introduced re- 
enacting the salary provision in such terms as to make the 
payment of the standard $1,200 a year mandatory on all 
twenty-four-mile routes. The administration worked hard 
to defeat this bill. The Postmaster General appeared before 
the Senate Committee in person* to tell the Senators that 
the 1914 increase had come without the Department’s 
recommendation and that, in his opinion, the mail carriers 
were greatly overpaid. When the service was organized 
in 1898, Mr. Burleson told the committee, their salary was 
$300 a year and “there were hordes of applicants for the 
places.” In spite of this the pay was gradually increased 
until it reached the $1,100 mark in 1913.4? Thereupon, he 


89 Office of the Postmaster General, Order No. 8246, July 14, 1914. 

40 For the Department’s position see Congressional Record (63rd Cong., 2nd 
Sess.), pp. 13547-50. 

41 See testimony of Postmaster General Burleson before the Senate Committee 
on Post Offices and Post Roads, Hearings on Post Office Appropriation Bill for 1915. 


In 1898 to $400. In 1904 to $720. 
1900 to 500. 1907 to 900. 
1902 to 600. 1911 to 1000. 


In 1912 to $1100. 
—Congressional Record (68rd Cong., 2nd Sess.), . 13548. 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM _ 201 


said, the Department “reached the conclusion that he (the 
rural carrier) was being overpaid and, notwithstanding the 
fact that there was terrific pressure brought to bear by a 
large organization, the Post Office Department refused to 
recommend any increase in compensation. . . .” 


BURLESON ADVOCATES PLACING RURAL SERVICE ON PRIVATE 
CONTRACT BASIS 


The Postmaster General went on to tell the Senators that 
the rural mail service as a whole was too expensive a propo- 
sition and that he felt that it could be operated far more 
economically if contracted out to a private syndicate. In 
fact, a contractor had already offered to take over the 
service and perform it for $40,000,000, or a saving of 
thirteen million annually to the Department. Mr. Burleson 
said further that if Congress would give him authority to 
advertise for bids for rural routes, as much as eighteen 
million dollars a year could be saved to the government. 

This spurred the R. F. D. News and the Rural Carriers’ 
Association to unexampled activity. All the political pres- 
sure they could exert was brought to bear to push the salary 
bill to passage and to kill the contract proposal before it 
could get far. 

Their fight was successful. The salary bill passed by 
large majorities, while the contract proposal never got 
beyond the committee stage. But before this measure was 
finally disposed of, the Department evened its accounts 
with the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association by 
forcing the chairman of its executive committee to resign 
from the service. He had given offense by publicly referring 
to the “contract corpse” and asking why the rural service 
alone should have been singled out for the private con- 
tractor. The Fourth Assistant told the offending employee 
that the Department was especially lenient in allowing him 
to resign. His punishment should have been removal.** 

Encouraged by their legislative success, the postmen next 
sought to make their victory complete by inducing Congress 
to reimburse them for the pay lost under the operation of 
the Burleson schedule, a request which, in view of the 
legislative stand already taken, could not consistently have 
been refused. This incident served to rouse the authorities 


#3 Union Postal Clerk, January, 1915, p. 25. 


202 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


to a still higher pitch of resentment. Mr. Burleson spoke 
of the measure as “an unwarranted gratuity of nearly 
$3,000,000 to be taken from the postal revenues,’’** and the 
whole ‘episode served to crystallize his opposition towards 
employee organizations. 


WAR PRICES CUT VALUE OF POSTAL SALARIES 


By the end of 1917 the rise in prices brought about by 
the war had made postal salaries altogether insufficient to 
meet living costs. The scale of pay for city clerks and 
carriers had not been revised since July, 1907, except to 
change the entrance salary from $600 to $800 a year. In 
spite of the fact that men entered the regular grades at 
that figure and could reach a maximum of $1,200 per 
annum, the long period of substituting reduced the average 
salary to but $742.22 a year for the first nine years of 
service.*® The salaries of railway postal clerks had not 
been revised since 1912. 


ADMINISTRATION OPPOSES INCREASES 


Wages in private industry were being advanced and it 
was becoming hard to keep the service properly manned. 
Yet the postal authorities would recommend no increases 
for their employees and they opposed the efforts of the 
workers’ organizations to secure relief from Congress. To 
Mr. Burleson’s mind there was no need for higher salaries 
and the organized postal employees seeking such were 
making ‘selfish demands,” for, according to him, they were 
“justly compensated, receiving more than three times as 
much as those fighting in the trenches. . . .’’*° 


THE INSUFFICIENT INCREASE OF 1918 


That statement made the employees even more resent- 
ful. They felt that it was unfair; that it was an effort 
to prejudice Congress and the public against them by an 
appeal to war sentiment. The character of Mr. Burleson’s 
opposition stirred the workers to greater activity, while his 
overstatements helped to show the reasonableness of their 
case. Congress in 1918 granted them an increase of what 

i noe Office Department Reports, 1916 (Postmaster General), 

port: House Ae ae on Post Offices and Post Reade ‘Blouse Report 


bly. Pray 2, 1917, 
46 Post Office LUN ack Reports (Postmaster General), 1917, p. 33. 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM 203 


amounted to $200 a year for each grade. The new rates 
applied to the railway mail service as well as to city clerks 
and carriers. But before the increases had become effective, 
steadily rising costs had rendered them inadequate and 
made it impossible for the workers to stop their efforts to 
bring their wages nearer to the level of prices. 


STAFF INADEQUATE TO HANDLE INCREASED VOLUME OF MAIL 


In spite of the fact that the post office was handling an 
ever-increasing volume of mail, the number of regular 
employees remained about the same.*7 In some of the 
largest offices the force had actually decreased. In Chicago, 
for example, there were 4,006 clerks employed on June 30, 
1914, as compared with 3,792 on June 30, 1919, a reduction 
of 4.2 per cent; while during the six years from 1913 to 
1919 the amount of mail handled had increased 78.89 per 
cent.*® To handle the work, overtime in the mailing divi- 
sion was increased 243.8 per cent from December 31, 1915, 
to June 30, 1919, or from an average of 13 minutes a day 
to one hour and two minutes.*® For the service as a whole, 
from 1913 to 1919 the number of employees increased by 
11 per cent, while the amount of work increased by about 
60 per cent.*° 

Little wonder that such conditions caused unrest. The 
success of strike after strike in the industrial world gave 
rise to a measure of direct action sentiment among a small 
number of postal workers which was further increased by 
the victorious strike of the Canadian clerks and carriers 
in the summer of 1918. The papers reported talk of “mass 
resignations” at Chicago and other places, while the clerks 
and carriers of Sioux City, Iowa, actually passed and pub- 
lished resolutions saying that they could not get along on 
the existing wage standards and that if relief were not 
forthcoming, they would resign in a body on October 1, 
1919.5 

*7It was part of the Department’s policy to handle the increased work with 
substitutes and temporary employees. These workers lacked adequate training and 
experience and were of but little help to the post offices in their efforts to handle 


the mail properly. 
48 Hearings: ‘ora Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department, 


August i 1919, 
49 Same ‘6 Same, 51 Same, p. 4. 


204 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


THE EMPLOYEES’ CAMPAIGN TO ROUSE PUBLIC 


In the summer of 1919 the Chicago local of the National 
Federation of Post Office Clerks began a series of promi- 
nently displayed advertisements in the leading dailies as 
part of a publicity campaign to make the public realize 
the deplorable condition of the postal worker and the rela- 
tion of that condition to the breakdown in the efficiency of 
the service. At the same time joint employee publicity 
committees were formed in many of the larger cities. At 
New York the rival clerks’ organizations were able to forget 
their differences long enough for their representatives to 
serve on the local joint committee along with the spokesmen 
of all the other employees including the supervisors. 

The press gave the campaign its hearty support. The 
widely read weekly, the Interary Digest, in addition to 
lending the influence of its columns,®? helped enormously 
by distributing the employees’ appeals on posters and hand- 
bills over the length and breadth of the country, while some 
of the groups of union workers employed in getting the 
matter out gave their labor without compensation. The 
New York joint committee was for all practical purposes 
the central directing agency of this feature of the campaign. 


LOW PAY IMPAIRS THE SERVICE 


The employees’ appeal had not only the effect which so 
widespread and persistent a campaign is bound to have, 
but it also carried great additional weight because the state 
of affairs told not only on the postal worker but in terms 
of greatly impaired service besides. Undermanning made 
overtime and the disregard of many protective laws almost 
inevitable. When men left the service for more remunera- 
tive work outside, it was impossible to get others to take 
their places. In many of the larger cities the Civil Service 
Commission held examinations every second week. The 
number of applicants was far below the Department’s 
needs, and of those who qualified, but few remained in the 
service long enough to be of help.®* At some centers it was 
necessary to let down the examination bars and accept such 
labor as offered itself. In the cities of Detroit, Chicago, 


52 See Literary Digest, May 22, 1920, p. 29; May 29, 1920, p. 58. 
53 Hearings cited, p. 4. 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM 205 


Akron, O., Norfolk, Va.,°* and other places, the Post Office 
Department kept a standing order for available labor with 
the United States Employment Service. It was said, too, 
that men were sent to the postal service with the under- 
standing that they would be expected to remain only until 
they had found ‘“‘decent’’ jobs.°° 


THE JOINT SALARY COMMISSION 


Congress took two steps to remedy the situation. In 
February, 1919, it appointed a Joint Commission on Postal 
Salaries “to investigate the salaries of postmasters and 
other employees of the postal service with a view to the 
reclassification and readjustment of those salaries on an 
equitable basis.” But it was months before this body got 
to work and months more before it was ready to report its 
findings and make its recommendations. In fact, it showed 
few signs of activity until the workers’ campaign had 
grown to large proportions. The situation needed a more 
immediate remedy and the employees needed more than 
the assurance that their wages would one day be readjusted 
on an “equitable basis.” So in November, 1919, a joint 
resolution increased the compensation of the three lower 
grades of clerks and carriers by $200 a year and the three 
upper grades by $150. The pay of railway postal clerks 
was likewise advanced $200 for the lower grades, $150 and 
$125 for the higher. 


MAKESHIFT SALARY INCREASE OF 1919 


These increases were but makeshifts. They fell far short 
of keeping pace with advances in the industrial world and 
failed to give the workers the relief they so badly needed. 
Their effect was more to irritate than appease and this 
irritation was hardly lessened by the Joint Salary Commis- 
sion’s delay first, in getting to work, and afterwards, in 
making its report. 

But when the Congressional investigators finally set 
about their task, they did so in a thorough and efficient 
manner. They held hearings at the capital and in many 
cities throughout the country. Five hundred and thirty- 

54 War industry was responsible for enormous population increases in all of these 
cities but Chicago, but other needs of the population were met even though postal 


service lagged behind. 
Hearings cited, p. 5. 


206 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


seven men and women, all actually employed in the service, 
gave testimony. Many told shocking stories of hardship 
and privation and all revealed a deplorable state of affairs.*¢ 
Questionnaires were sent to every class of worker from 
postmaster to laborer to obtain specific data not otherwise 
available. Over 125,000 of these blanks were filled out and 
returned and the data tabulated in the commission’s report.>* 
In much of its work the commission was assisted by an 
advisory committee of postal experts. 

But one thing marred the high hope raised by this encour- 
aging procedure, the granting of a secret hearing to the 
Department’s representative, First Assistant Postmaster 
General Koons. And when month after month elapsed 
without a report or even a sign of one, there was no little 
impatience and grumbling. 

It was the middle of May, 1920. In a few weeks Congress 
was scheduled to adjourn for the national party conventions. 
Unless something was done at once no salary legislation 
could be forthcoming for many months. So on May 24th 
the joint commission issued a hurried and very brief pre- 
liminary report making wage recommendations which were 
enacted with practically no changes and signed by the 
President on June 5, 1920. This legislation was about the 
last thing Congress did before adjourning. Its whole treat- 
ment of the matter and the inadequacy of the law’s provi- 
sions were sadly disappointing to the employees. If it had 
not been for the fact that there was a general feeling that 
prices would not go much higher and for the realization 
that the Burleson administration had but a short time 
longer to serve, there might have been a large number of 
resignations en bloc or even strike attempts. But, as it 
was, the employees accepted the situation and bided their 
time. 


THE RECLASSIFICATION ACT OF 1920 


The reclassification act divided clerks and carriers into 
five grades at from $1,400 to $1,800 a year with a uniform 
advance of $100 a year for each grade. The standard 
salary of rural letter carriers was fixed at $1,800 a year. 

66 For a brief and reliable account of the conditions as revealed by the testimony 
given before the commission, see article by Lowry, E. G.: “Why the Mail Service 


is Poor,” New Republic, June 23, 1920, pp. 111-14. 
adit Postal Salaries,’’ Vol. II. 


THE BURLESON ECONOMY PROGRAM 207 


Railway postal clerks were divided into six grades at from 
$1,600 a year to $2,300 for clerks-in-charge. The pay of 
substitute clerks and carriers was fixed at sixty cents per 
hour and provision was made for giving credit for time 
served at this work in advancement to the regular grades. 

Unquestionably the act®® was an improvement over what 
had gone before, but it fell short of the workers’ hopes and 
expectations and failed to satisfy their foremost press sup- 
porters.°® Yet the provisions for clerks and carriers, at 
any rate, were considerably better than the scale urged by 
the First Assistant, Mr. Koons, for the Department:® an 
entrance salary of $1,100 with credit for time served in 
substituting, and a maximum of $1,600, or an entrance 
salary of $1,200 if substitute credit were not allowed. But 
under no circumstances would Mr. Koons concede the neces- 
sity of a maximum higher than the $1,650 then in effect. 

58 Public Law 265 (66th Cong.), approved June 5, 1920. 
1920, p. 21. 


58 See Literary Digest, June 26, 
6 “Postal Salaries,’’ Vol. I, p. 190. 


Cuapter XIII 


BURLESON’S OPPOSITION TO EMPLOYEE 
ORGANIZATIONS 


Burleson’s hostility towards employee organizations was 
accentuated, though not caused, by the associations’ fight 
against the administration’s policies. Long before the 
organized workers had a chance to oppose the Department’s 
plans, Mr. Burleson and his aides looked askance upon 
their routine activities about the executive offices, and there 
was a good deal of official talk about “overorganization” 
and ‘“‘too much unionism.” 

Because of the guarantees of the Lloyd-La Follette act 
the position of employee associations was stronger than 
under previous administrations, and they were able to 
function more freely. Yet some officials were openly hostile 
to this free functioning and attempted to interfere with the 
specifically guaranteed right to petition Congress. At first 
this interference consisted of expressed disapproval of 
appeals to Congress over the head of the Department on 
the grounds that such action was unnecessary or subversive 
of discipline. But this was just a beginning. As time went 
on far more serious attempts were made to interfere with the 
activities of the workers or to disrupt their organizations. 


GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT STEPHENS AND THE SPEED TEST 


In the railway mail service, where the Brotherhood of 
Railway Postal Clerks had recently received a national 
charter from the A. F. of L., the authorities pursued the 
policy of backing the conservative Railway Mail Associa- 
tion against the new union toward which they were openly 
hostile. The new General Superintendent, Mr. A. H. 
Stephens, almost immediately after entering upon his duties 
was quoted as saying, “We have no use for labor unionism 
within the government service and certainly labor unionism 
will not be permitted in the railway mail service.” 

1 Harpoon, No. 66, April 27, 1915. 
208 


OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZATIONS 209 


_It was during Mr. Stephens’ administration that the effi- 
ciency rating system was promulgated. The clerks’ protests 
against its speed test feature by which distribution time 
standards were set, along with similar complaints on the 
part of post office clerks and carriers and employees engaged 
In government navy yards, arsenals, and other establish- 
ments against time studies in their branches, resulted in the 
introduction of a bill by Senator Borah of Idaho designed 
to do away with “speeding up” or “stop watch methods” 
throughout the federal service. A group of railway mail 
clerks petitioned the Senate to support this measure. They 
said that, while they did not object seriously to the extra 
work involved in gathering data on “speed tests” for the 
Department’s records, they did object to having the data 
used to their disadvantage. The fact that they were 
charged with demerits if they failed to attain a certain 
speed showed, they said, that the data was to be so used. 
The petition was couched in moderate and inoffensive 
terms. Yet General Superintendent Stephens took violent 
exception to it in a speech to the railway mail clerks of 
Indianapolis.* Though the petition said no such thing, he 
declared that it contained a statement saying that the 
purpose of the speed test was to prevent promotions.* ‘And 
let me tell you,” he went on, “that anybody that signs that 
petition with that statement is up before the general! super- 
intendent of this service for removal for lying. Tell your 
fellow clerks that. I do not think any of you gentlemen 
in Indianapolis have signed that petition, but whoever signs 
it is going to come up before the general superintendent 
for removal. ... When a man goes to the extent that he 
will misrepresent to a Senator of the United States the 
conditions in the service, I have the power, the authority, 
and the inclination, and the decision to remove him from 
che service.” 

In Congress,° and among all classes of postal workers, 
Superintendent Stephens’ speech was interpreted as an 
attempt to abridge the right of petition and “gag” the em- 
ployees, in spite of the guarantees of the Lloyd-La Follette 


2 Congressional Record (63rd Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 16262. 
8 Railway Post Office, September, 1914, p. 87. 
*This statement was evidently made by Stephens in order to give a semblance 
of justification to his stand. 
5 Congressional Record (68rd Cong., 2nd Sess.), pp. 15565-6, 16262-3. 


210 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


section of the Act of August 24, 1912. Almost every civil 
service paper, along with a good many dailies, denounced 
the statement. The Brotherhood of Railway Postal Clerks 
called the incident to the attention of President Wilson 
and asked that action be taken requiring Superintendent 
Stephens publicly to disavow his threat. The Railway 
Mail Association, or at least its official organ, the Radway 
Post Office,’ stood alone in defending the bureau chief, 
praising his “‘come-back” to the “precipitate action of some 
thoughtless ones.” | 

No one was removed as a result of the Stephens’ threat, 
but a number of clerks who had signed the petition wrote 
to Senator Borah asking him to strike their names from 
the list of signatures. Most of those who wrote reaffirmed 
their interest in the passage of the bill but could not afford 
to run the risk of losing their jobs.*® 

This was the first overt attempt of an official of the 
Burleson administration to interfere with the legal rights 
of employees. While the incident was perhaps more of a 
display of bad temper than a deliberate attempt to nullify 
the law, it did, nevertheless, show a marked disregard for 
the workers’ rights. It also showed thousands of civil 
servants that their legal guarantees were little better than 
worthless unless they could be enforced by machinery inde- 
pendent of the department which employed them and 
unless the employees themselves were constantly on their 
guard to see that they were not violated. 


BURLESON’S ATTACK ON THE RURAL CARRIERS’ ORGANIZATION 


It was not long after this Stephens incident that the Post- 
master General had his controversy with the Rural Carriers’ 
Association over his new schedule of compensation.? While 
this controversy was at its height, Mr. Burleson sent a 
letter to the chairman of the House Post Office Committee 
in the course of which he spoke as follows of the postmen’s 
organization and its activities: 


“During this session of Congress a pernicious lobby, 
encouraged by the circulation of a sheet known as 
the R. F. D. News and labeled ‘The Official Organ of 


6 The Harpoon, No. 60, Oct. 28, 1914. 7 September, 1914. 
8 Congressional Record (63rd Cong., 2nd Sess.), pp. 16262-3. 
2 Above, pp. 199-201. 


OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZATIONS 211 


the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association,’ advo- 
cated the increase of the maximum salary of rural 
letter carriers to the extent of $100 additional per 
annum, ostensibly on account of the amount of mail 
matter carried, due to the establishment of the parcel 
post feature of postal activity. This proposition to 
increase the annual cost of operation of the rural 
delivery mail service to the extent of $4,500,000 was 
further promoted by the periodical visits of certain 
officers of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Associa- 
ciation, an organization presumably formed within the 
carrier body to cooperate with the Department in the 
advancement of the postal service, but which in reality 
has degenerated to a point where, in the opinion of the 
Department, it exercises a baneful influence over the 
service and incites the carrier body to political reprisal 
upon the representatives of the people in Congress who 
may have the courage to deny its demands or defy its 
vengeance. Largely through the influence and activi- 
ties of the ‘official organ’ certain carriers submitted 
grossly exaggerated, misleading, and untrue statements 
to members of Congress relative to the cost of main- 
taining service on their routes. A circular issued froi? 
the same source, dated July 29, 1914, boasts of plans 
for further legislation, and mentions an allowance for 
equipment, etc., as the next avenue of approach.’?° 


It will be recalled, too, that the chairman of the Asso- 
ciation’s national executive committee was forced out of 
the service because of the part he had played in opposing 
the Postmaster General’s efforts to place the rural service 
on a contract basis." 

The success of the Association the next year in getting 
Congress to compensate the carriers for their losses under 
the Burleson schedule was altogether too much for the 
Postmaster General. This, along with the success of repre- 
sentatives of the railway mail clerks in securing legislation 
compelling some administrative changes to the advantage 
of the clerks which the administration had opposed, moved 
the Postmaster General to warn that the activities of certain 
organizations of postal employees were making it “extremely 


¥ Congressional Record (63rd Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 13548. 
41 Above, p. 201. 


212 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


difficult . . . to properly administer the postal service,” and 
to say that the continuance of such activities might result 
in the repeal of the Lloyd-La Follette law. 


FOURTH ASSISTANT BLAKSLEE’S REPORT ON ORGANIZATIONS 


' At the same time the Fourth Assistant, reporting to his 
chief, spoke thus of the activities of the workers’ agents at 
the capital: ae 


“I wish to invite your attention to a species of per- 
nicious postal parasites, whose existence depends upon 
their ability to arouse discord and dissension between 
the administrative officials and the employees. 

“As self-constituted agents or attorneys they collect 
salaries and fees from postal employees for services 
they never render, and for imaginary influence with 
Representatives in Congress. 

“They frequently publish misleading and inaccurate 
criticisms of some function of the postal establishment, 
and circulate prepared articles in various localities, 
that are carefully collected to present to committees 
of the Congress to influence legislation. 

“They encourage and foster numerous associations 
or organizations, formed ostensibly for the advance- 
ment of the postal service and to cooperate with this 
Department for the welfare of the postal patron, which 
associations, however, are organized purely to raid 
the public treasury through one form or another of 
unusual privilege. 

“They endeavor to utilize the political power of the 
several organizations or associations they represent to 
punish their opponents in and out of public office. 

“They foregather in the city of Washington during 
the sessions of Congress and endeavor to destroy the 
spirit of good will and cooperation that should exist 
between the executive and legislative branches of the 
government. 

“They report to the several associations that main- 
tain them in luxury in this city, from whence they 
circulate reports concerning their numerous activities, 

12 Post Office Department Reports (Postmaster General), 1916, 


Pp. 
13 Post Office Department Reports (Fourth. Assistant Postmaster Consent}: 1916, 
p. 211. 


OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZATIONS 213 


and the many benefits they demand and receive, 
whereas in fact they do not perform one substantial 
service, except to limit the earning capacity of that 
type of postal employee who is entitled to far greater 
consideration for expert service rendered, while at the 
same time promoting the interest of that employee 
who is negligent, inefficient, and whose duty could be 
performed by a schoolboy. 

“They constitute a menace to the classified service, 
in that they thwart the purpose thereof in an effort 
to concentrate the political power of their deluded 
followers, and demand of candidates and nominees for 
public office specific promises with regard to their 
future action, threatening independent representatives 
of the people with punishment, whenever they indicate 
their independence. 

“They attempt to interfere in the administration of 
discipline and in the promotion and demotion of em- 
ployees solely because of their affiliation with different 
organizations in the service, and without regard to the 
merits involved. 

“The public must be freed from these insidious 
influences, for the reason that they are demoralizing 
the spirit of honesty and loyalty that constitutes 
sincerity in the service of the people.” 


One organization journal reprinted this outgiving under 
the caption, “WOW.” 


ROPER DEFINES THE DEPARTMENT’S ATTITUDE 


The Postmaster General’s threat against the Lloyd-La 
Follette law in his report for 1916 hardly came as a surprise. 
It was the logical outcome of the administration’s declared 
position regarding organizations. The year before, the First 
Assistant, Mr. Daniel C. Roper, had set forth that position 
at length in papers to the conventions of the National 
Association of Letter Carriers and the United National 
Association of Post Office Clerks. Mr. Roper sent these 
papers in lieu of attending the conventions in person. Aside 
from the portions which dealt specifically with the clerical 
or carrier services, the communications were identical. The 
one to the clerks was entitled, “The Department’s View- 


214 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


point on the Postal Employee,” while that to the carriers. 
was called “The Recognition of the Human Element in the 
Postal Service.’’!4 

Mr. Roper stated bluntly: 


“Organizations of postal employees have no official 
status which may be recognized by the Department. 
They are not per se a part of the postal service, nor 
are they essential to its conduct or welfare. They are 
purely unofficial. .. .”. 


At the same time, he admitted, they might serve “a useful 
purpose and in a manner entirely unobjectionable to the 
Department” if they confined their activities to ‘the fra- 
ternal feature . . . whereby life insurance and other benev- 
olent features might be arranged.” Nor did he object to 
the “social feature,’ provided that those who took part 
in the discussions had a “common viewpoint”... “not 
centralized in self but in the great postal service.” 

As for the adoption of trade union tactics, or the affilia- 
tion with “outside organized influence,” or making appeals 
for legislation direct to Congress over the heads of the 
administrative authorities, the Department was unalterably 
opposed. There was, according to Mr. Roper, no need for 
such tactics, “for both Congress and the Department are 
interested in the welfare of postal employees, but the 
Department is even more solicitous for their welfare than 
Congress can be. . . .”” Mr. Roper was particularly opposed 
to direct appeals to Congress. This practice, he said, “‘con- 
tinued unchecked and unguarded” might ‘imperil either 
the position of the employees or the integrity of the service.” 


DEPARTMENT TRIES STRONGER TACTICS 


Neither official warnings nor the hostile tactics of those 
in control resulted in the slightest diminution of organiza- 
tion activity. In fact, the year followmg Postmaster 
General Burelson’s warning saw that activity increase to 
an unprecedented degree. It was during that year that 
the railway postal clerks fought the reorganization plan 
and that all classes of workers began their campaign for 
increased pay in the face of departmental opposition. Law 
or no law the Department now set out to disrupt the 


14 These papers may be found in Congressional Record (64th Cong., Ist Sess.), 
pp. 2718-20. 


OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZATIONS 215 


workers’ associations or at least to prevent their func- 
tioning. Since proscription by official edict was now legally 
impossible, and since all attempts to proscribe them unoffi- 
cially by threat and warning had failed, the Postmaster 
General was forced to try other tactics. So he proceeded 
to dismiss from the service one after another of the active 
heads of the several postal organizations. 


NEW POLICY OF RAILWAY MAIL ASSOCIATION 


In the railway mail service Mr. E. J. Ryan, who had 
been elected president of the Railway Mail Association in 
1915, had tried his best not to alienate the good will which 
the officials had always borne towards his organization. 
Following the Association’s customary course, the new 
president, along with the members of the national execu- 
tive committee, conferred with the officials of the railway 
mail service at Washington and presented the requests of 
the clerks as expressed in the resolutions of their conven- 
tion. Time after time following that conference, President 
Ryan saw the Second Assistant to ask some action regarding 
those requests, but the authorities chose to ignore them. 
By that time the appropriation bill for the year had passed 
through the committee stage and was being discussed on 
the floor of the House. Mr. Ryan now decided that a 
change in organization tactics was necessary. Since the 
Department would not let the Association do business in 
the old way, he felt that he had no choice but to carry the 
clerks’ requests directly to Congress. This brought Presi- 
dent Ryan’s administration into official disfavor. The 
Department was not used to having officers of the Railway 
Mail Association act in so independent a fashion. 

Not long after the adopting of these new tactics, Mr. 
Ryan claims, pressure began to be exerted to have him 
stop his activities about the capital. “One gentleman,” he 
said, “connected with the Department down here (South 
Terminal R. P. O., Boston), said that the officials did not 
like what I was doing and that if I was not careful I might 
lose my job.’”*> But Ryan continued his new methods. 
Even if he had wanted to stop, the volume of protest caused 
tf the reorganization of the service would not have allowed 

im. 


45 Hearings: House Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department, 
August 26, 1919, p. 33. 


216 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Towards the end of March, 1917, he issued a bulletin 
which was posted at some two hundred railway mail centers 
throughout the country, saying that it was apparent that 
the Department would not discontinue its plan to reorganize 
the railway mail service, reducing both the number of runs 
on various lines and the number of men on the crews while 
at the same time increasing the hours of work of those who 
remained. “While private employees,” said the circular, 
“have benefited by voluntary acts of their employers, rail- 
way postal clerks have been forced to accept changes that 
have made working conditions in the service worse than 
at any time past.” In view of the facts as presented, the 
bulletin urged the clerks to gather data to fight the reor- 
ganization plan. before Congress. 


PRESIDENT RYAN’S REMOVAL 


In less than a month President Ryan received a letter 
from the Department directing him “to show cause within 
three days why he should not be removed for publishing 
and circulating among railway postal clerks false and mis- 
leading statements which foment discontent and create 
disloyalty among the employees of the railway mail ser- 
vice.” Ryan offered to substantiate all his statements before 
an “impartial tribunal.” He went on practically to court 
dismissal by taking full responsibility for all his statements 
in the circular and by couching his reply in the tone of an 
attack rather than an apology. The ‘discontent’ and 
“disloyalty” among the clerks was “fomented,” he said, not 
by circulars or news-letters of his, but by “false economy, 
an idiotic efficiency system, stupid rulings and decisions, 
and unfair transfers and reductions.” “I shall,” he went 
on, “await your reply to this letter with considerable curi- 
osity and I’ll not be surprised if it comes in the form of an 
order notifying me of my removal from the service.’2® And 
the Department played right into Ryan’s hand. It did just 
what he had practically asked of it and dismissed him from 
the service. , 

PRESIDENT WHITE’S REMOVAL 


On the very day of Ryan’s discharge Fred L. White, 
national president of the Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, 


16 For the text of the principal points of Ryan’s letter see Unien Postal Clerk, 
June, 1917, p. 11. 


OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZATIONS 217 


met a similar fate. He had printed in the R. F. D. News? 
an article in which he stated that he had learned on “the 
very best authority” that the Department intended to 
reorganize the rural delivery service, making the majority 
of the routes thirty miles instead of twenty-four miles. 
That furnished an opportunity to get White out of the way. 
The Department declared that the statement “grossly mis- 
represented the facts’; that it was “demoralizing” and had 
“a tendency to create a spirit of dissatisfaction among the 
employees and engender antagonism between them and the 
Department.” So the rural carriers’ president was given 
ten days “to show cause why he should not be removed from 
the service.” 

White, according to his own statement, originally had 
obtained the information on which he had based his articles 
from two members of the House who had been in direct 
communication with the Post Office Department. He said 
further that he had, in the company of Senator Hardwick 
of Georgia, personally verified his statement at the office 
of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, where he had 
learned that the authorities were planning to reorganize the 
service so that where six routes were close together one was 
to be eliminated and divided up among the remaining five. 
A few days later White received this letter: 


Stoughton, Wisconsin, 
April 17, 1917. 
“Dear Brother White: 

“T was until last Saturday night a rural carrier, but 
am now without work, as the routes here have been 
reorganized in this county (Dane) and I am let out. 
There were six routes. Mine was 224 miles. The 
others were between 24 and 27 miles. Now there are 
five routes. The shortest is 267% miles. The longest 
297% miles. It seems to me that the greatest need in 
the rural service is to enforce the law as intended by 
Congress. Probably a more stringent law is needed to 
do so. 

“Respectfully, 
“(Signed) M. J. HoKERNSON, 
“Member National Association.” 


17 April 7, 1917, p. 10; April 21, 1917, p. 10. 


218 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


This seemed to vindicate White’s article and to show that 
the reorganization was not merely contemplated but that 
it was actually being put into effect. The Department, 
however, held the defense unsatisfactory. The Fourth 
Assistant denied that he or anyone in his bureau had 
given White information on which to base his statements 
and made that an additional ground for his dismissal.1® 


THE ORDER RECALLING LEAVES OF ABSENCE 


The war offered the administration another good excuse 
to curtail and hamper organization activities. On April 6, 
1917, the Postmaster General issued an order providing that 
thereafter no leaves of absence would be granted except to 
employees absent with pay, to employees absent on mili- 
tary duty and to employees absent on account of sickness. 
The order at the same time cancelled all leaves which did 
not fall within the excepted classes.1° Though on its face 
this seemed a perfectly proper and justifiable war measure, 
its effect was to imperil in some instances the very right of 
organization by making it difficult if not impossible for 
bodies with officers still in the service to function. It had 
always been the custom for the Department to grant leaves 
of absence without pay to national association officers to 
attend their organization duties. 

President Gainor of the National Association of Letter 
Carriers obeyed the order and returned to duty as a letter 
carrier at Muncie, Indiana. After trying for about six 
months to attend to the requirements of his two posts and 
finding the task impossible, he applied for leave without 
pay to care for his organization duties. But the Postmaster 
General, in spite of the old custom to honor such requests, 
refused to make any exception to his order on the ground 
that the government needed the services of all its experi- 
enced employees. A few weeks later Gainor again applied 
for a special leave, this time to attend the convention of 
the American Federation of Labor as a delegate from the 
Letter Carriers’ Association. But again the Department 
denied the application. Feeling that there was nothing left 


18 For White’s defense and the Department’s reply see Union Postal Clerk, June, 
1917, pp. 810. See also R. F. D. News, May 8, 1917, p. 12. For a detailed 


description by White of his interview with the Fourth Assistant and the super- 
intendent of the rural mail service see R. F. D. News, November 15, 1921, pp. 


19 Post, Office Department Order No. 210, Office of the Postmaster General. 


OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZATIONS 219 


for him to do, Gainor resigned as a carrier and went to the 
convention. 


SECRETARY FLAHERTY’S DISCHARGE 


Mr. Thomas F. Flaherty, the secretary-treasurer and 
legislative representative of the National Federation of 
Post Office Clerks, called at the Post Office Department to 
intercede in behalf of an employee active in the affairs of 
the Chicago clerks’ union. This clerk had been disciplined 
by a reduction of $100 a year in salary for scattering organ- 
ization notices among the mails in order to reach those 
clerks who would subsequently handle the matter. The 
authorities had always permitted employees to scatter 
notices in this way. Mr. Flaherty submitted this fact to 
the Department as part of the Chicago clerk’s defense. 
Following Flaherty’s visit, the Department changed the 
punishment of the Chicago clerk from demotion to dis- 
charge and then, seizing the day, also dismissed Flaherty 
on the ground that he, too, had scattered notices in the 
mails when a clerk in the San Francisco office. As a matter 
of fact, Flaherty was employed in the Foreign Division and 
had no opportunity to do the thing for which he was dis- 
missed for doing. 

Now that he had rid the service of the leaders of all the 
great staff organizations—except the United National Asso- 
ciation of Post Office Clerks—the Postmaster General could 
contemptuously discount the statements of association 
spokesmen as coming from “disgruntled former employees.” 
And he could also say with perfect consistency: “The De- 
partment is willing at all times to hear committees of postal 
employees, . . . but .. . the members of such com- 
mittee must be persons actually employed in the postal 
servide.... ..’7° 

Aside from this, the administration’s action had the very 
opposite of the desired effect. The associations instead of 
being weakened were greatly strengthened, while the lead- 
ers, who were forced out of the service, were retained in 
office with permanent salaries.** 

2 Letter of Mr. Burleson on the recognition of postal organizations, Aug. 6, 1918, 
in Union Postal Employee, September, 1918, pp. 9-10. 
21 White of the rural carriers remained in office until the end of his term, but 


the association failed to provide, as the R. F. D. News urged, for a president 
outside the service with permanent headquarters at Washington, 


220 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


BURLESON URGES REPEAL OF THE “ANTI-GAG LAW” 


Burleson’s attack reached its high mark in a bitter and — 
sweeping indictment of postal organizations in his report 
for the fiscal year of 1917.2 He charged that they injured 
the postal establishment and hampered its proper admin- 
istration and that they were a constant menace to civil 
service principles. Furthermore, he held that organizations 
were unnecessary to the workers themselves, for they could 
always depend upon the Department and public opinion to 
safeguard their interests. ‘‘The department,” he said, “in- 
sists that all employees shall be treated in a fair, just, and 
equitable manner and to secure such treatment it is not 
necessary that they belong to any organization. ts 
Though organization was necessary to employees “obliged 
to protect themselves against the selfishness of private em- 
ployers,” the situation in the case of government employees 
was “essentially different,” because “the relations between 
the employee and the government are always matters of 
public information, and the interests of the employee will 
always be protected by public sentiment.’’ While it was 
perfectly proper, the Postmaster General went on, for gov- 
ernment workers to organize for their “social and mutual 
welfare” and to “appear before committees in Congress 
when requested,” the workers under his jurisdiction were 
affiliating with an outside organization (the A. F. of L.), 
were organizing to interfere with the “discipline and admin- 
istration of the service’ and to “control the election of 
persons nominated for public office.” Besides, they were 
“making many selfish demands and insisting that they shall 
not be required or permitted to work in excess of the usual 
number of hours; also that their salaries be permanently 
increased, although they are justly compensated, receiving 
more than three times as much as those fighting in the 
trenches. .. .” 

In summary he said: “The conduct of these organizations 
at this time is incompatible with the principles of civil 
service and with good administration of the Postal Service. 
They are fast becoming a menace to public welfare and 
should no longer be tolerated or condoned.’”’ And so in con- 
formity with his threat of the year before and in keeping 


22 Post Office Department Reports (Postmaster. General), 1917, pp. 31-5. 


OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZATIONS 221 


with the counts of his indictment, Mr. Burleson “earnestly 
recommended” that the provisions of the Act of August 24, 
1912 (the Lloyd-La Follette law), be repealed. 

From then on this recommendation became one of the 
chief ends and aims of the Department. It was renewed 
in each annual report until Postmaster General Burleson 
retired from office.?* 


BURLESON ATTACKS AFFILIATION WITH A. F. OF L. 


carriers, had strong organizations in the American Fed- 
eration of Labor, so the report for that year called particular 
attention to the “impropriety of government employees 
owing allegiance to any organization which might stand 
between them and the government, and to the actual 
menace to governmental authority which is involved in 
such affiliation. . . . Organizations which sanction strike 
and boycott serve the private interests of the members of 
the order. The labor organizations are formed as a defense 
against employers. When the employer is the government 
of the United States such an association of its employees is 
aimed at the government and is inconsistent with the per- 
formance of public service. . . . It can only be upon the 
assumption that the government is unjust, tyrannical, and 
compliant to force alone that the contention can be sus- 
tained that government employees require the support of 
an outside organization to compel the government to respect 
their rights and do them justice. . . . No organization of 
class or creed can be invoked to coerce the government 
without taking on a taint of disloyalty.” 

Though he did say, on several occasions, that affiliation 
with outside labor organizations was “believed to be con- 
trary to the Act of August 24, 1912,’ Postmaster General 
Burleson never went so far as to force a legal test of the 
law by attempting to enforce such an interpretation of it. 
He contented himself merely with urging its repeal while 
at the same time using his administrative authority to make 
the organizations impotent. 


By 1919 all of the great service groups, except the me 


*8 Post Office Department Reports (Post | 94: , 
52-6; 1920, pp. 14-1 ports (Postmaster General), 1918, p. 24; 1919, pp 


* Same, 1917, p. 33; 1920, p. 14. 


222 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


THE JOINT APPEAL FOR OFFICIAL RECOGNITION 


While he could do nothing without legal test to prevent 
the associations from existing, or from affiliating with the 
official labor movement if they so chose, or from carrying 
on their activities about the Capitol, he could and did pre- 
vent their functioning in an equally important sphere, 
namely, at the Department: Several groups, therefore, 
urged legislation to compel the authorities to recognize 
them and deal with them officially. Yet they saw that such 
legislation could do little good unless the administration 
dropped its hostile attitude. And, in that event, legislation 
would be unnecessary. A final effort was made to bring 
about a change in the Department’s attitude in July, 1918. 
The representatives of the city carriers’ and railway mail 
clerks’ associations and the federated post office clerks’ 
joined in a petition to the Postmaster General requesting 
official recognition so that “the accredited officials of the 
postal associations, appearing in behalf of the employees,” 
could, ‘“‘at opportune intervals, be granted an audience by 
the Postmaster General for the purpose of offering timely 
suggestions intended to promote service betterments or to 
submit and explain their petitions for redress of griev- 
ances.”?5 They pointed out that the postal unions of 
Great Britain had had such official recognition ever since 
1906 and that the same was true of American railway em- 
ployees under federal control, while the National War Labor 
Board had announced the recognition of “the right of work- 
ers to organize in trade unions and bargain collectively 
through chosen representatives” as a fundamental policy in 
dealing with labor disputes in private employment. 

The petition was not granted. Mr. Burleson refused to 
deal with the workers save as individuals. He was willing, 
however, to receive committees of their representatives if 
they were composed of persons in actual service.”® 

There was no good reason for dissatisfaction and unrest 
among the force, according to the administration. Such 


25 For its full text see Union Postal Employe, September, 1918, pp. 7-9. Although 
this petition was signed only by the representatives of the organizations affiliated 
with the A. F. of L., it was meant to apply to all postal associations. The Wash- 
ington representative of the rural carriers, the editor of the R. F. D. News, was 
in full accord with its principles but was called out of town before he had had an 
opportunity to sign the letter. The representative of the United States Association 
of Post Office Clerks, on the other hand, refused to sign. 

28 See Union Postal Employe, September, 1918, pp. 9-10. 


OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZATIONS 223 


discontent as there was, was stirred up by “agitators’’ who 
were also responsible for persistent complaints regarding 
the breakdown of the service’s efficiency. “If we could get 
rid of the agitators it will do more to help us than any one 
thing,” Mr. Koons, the First Assistant, told the Joint Salary 
Commission at the secret hearing it allowed him. ‘“What- 
ever is done,” he said, “I do hope, if it is possible . . . 
that some curb be put on the employees about affiliating 
with the American Federation of Labor. That one thing 
is demoralizing the service today more than anything else. 
They are absolutely irresponsible. They make the most 
lying statements and do not care that they are not based 
on facts. They have no interest in good service or the 
public welfare. All they wish to do is to cause unrest and 
discontent. They carry ads in the newspapers; they are 
conducting propaganda all the time.’”? 


THE “ADS” OF THE CHICAGO CLERKS’ UNION 


Clearly, the workers’ publicity campaign for increased 
Wages was becoming an annoyance to the authorities. Par- 
ticularly irritating were the advertisements of the Chicago 
Clerks’ Union which had been appearing for about a year 
and a half in the Washington and Chicago papers. When 
the Chicago Tribune in the spring of 1920 began a vigorous 
editorial campaign attacking the Department, urging in- 
creased pay for the workers and taking Mr. Koons to task 
for defending rather than improving the deteriorated ser- 
vice,”* the First Assistant lost patience and journeyed to 
Chicago to put a stop to the whole business. He was certain 
that Pierce Butler, president of the clerks local union, was 
not only the directing genius of the advertising campaign,”°® 
but that he had also inspired the Tribune editorials. Mr. 
Koons, who had been an inspector before his promotion to 
the position of Mr. Burleson’s chief aide, set the resident 
inspectors to work to investigate Butler and the other union 
leaders. Then he returned to Washington. 

Some weeks later, specifically on July 28, an official of 
the Chicago post office asked a clerk to bring him a copy 
of the letterhead of the Chicago Post Office Clerks’ Union. 
The next day eleven clerks, all officers and former officers 


27 ‘Postal Salaries,’”’ p. 200. 
28 See Chicago Tribune, April and May, 1920. ‘ 
2° The chairman of the publicity committee was a man no longer in the service. 


224 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


of the union, were directed to show cause why they should 
not be removed from the service. The charges against them 
were two: first, that they had solicited contributions of 
money from the public in violation of the postal laws and 
regulations ;°° second, that they had published or caused to 
be published ‘false and derogatory statements relative to 
the Postal Service.” A few weeks later President Butler 
and his ten colleagues were out of their jobs. 

This incident was the last Burleson attempt to punish an 
organization whose activities met with its disfavor. If any 
additional proof had been needed to show that the whole 
affair was an attempt to break up the union and not merely 
to get rid of offending and insubordinate employees, the 
amusing part played by the local’s letterhead would have 
furnished it. Two of the discharged clerks were no longer 
officers of the union, but their names still appeared upon 
the letterhead, while another officer whose name did not 
appear had no charges preferred against him. 

As a matter of fact, the men discharged had little direct 
concern with the advertisements in the papers. That activ- 
ity was handled by a publicity committee against whose 
members no charges were brought. The charge concerning 
the soliciting of funds, even if true, was merely a pretext 
to help along the Department’s case. If funds had been 
solicited for a purpose of which the Department had ap- 
proved, the violation of the Postal Laws and Regulations 
would probably have been winked at. Employees had 
always solicited money with impunity to help defray their 
convention expenses. In fact, shortly after the Chicago 
affair Mr. Koons attended a convention of the United 
National Association of Post Office Clerks, the expenses 
of which were paid in part by funds solicited from the citi- 
zens of Cincinnati.*t The Department took no more notice 
of the fact than it had on previous occasions when other 
associations had done the same thing. 

The average length of service of the discharged employees 
Was seventeen years. One had been in the post office for 
thirteen years, one for fourteen years, three for fifteen, two 

80 See Sec. 171, Postal Laws and Regulations. 


81 Union Postal Clerk, October, 1920, pp. 6-7. 
2 Based on statements of several postal officials. 


OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZATIONS 225 


for sixteen, one for seventeen, one for nineteen, one for 
twenty and one for twenty-six years.*% 

The Department’s charge that the Chicago “ads” were 
untrue gave the National Federation of Post Office Clerks 
a chance to engage in one of those pleasant little wagers 
which they knew would not be accepted, but which at the 
same time helped to place the challenged party in an un- 
favorable position. The Union Postal Clerk** offered to 
pay $1,000 to any worthy charity named by the First 
Assistant if he could prove to a jury of his choosing that 
any of the Chicago local’s ‘‘ads” was false or misleading 
as he had said. 

No more than a formal attempt was made to secure the 
reinstatement of the eleven men, for the very officials who 
had brought the charges against them and had also sat in 
judgment and sustained their own indictments would have 
heard the appeal. In the absence of an impartial agency of 
appeal, the union thought it best to let the case rest until 
after the retirement of the Burleson régime. : 

Postmaster General Hays, shortly after assuming office, 
had the cases re-opened and on the basis of his investiga- 
tion ordered the reinstatement of ten of the eleven em- 
ployees. The case of Pierce Burler, the president of the 
union, was held up for a time pending further inquiry after 
which he, too, was reinstated. 


A. F. OF L. CONDEMNS BURLESON 


In November, 1917, just about the time of the release of 
the Postmaster General’s first report urging the repeal of 
the “anti-gag law,” the convention of the American Federa- 
tion of Labor “emphatically condemn(ed) the autocratic 
policy of Postmaster General Burleson toward the postal 
employees” and instructed the Executive Council to cooper- 
ate with the representatives of the affiliated postal organi- 
zations “in securing an audience with President Wilson and 
placing before him all the facts concerning the oppressive 
labor policy of Postmaster General Burleson.”*° 

Two years later several resolutions condemning the postal 
administration were again adopted by the convention.*® 

%3 Union Postal ety August, 1921, p. 12. 
%4 October, 1920, p. 


85 American Fodanction of Labor: Proceedings, 1917, p. 364. 
86 Same, 1919, pp. 345 and 429-30. 


226 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


One of these, introduced by the representatives of the fed- 
eral employees, asked the Postmaster General’s removal.” 
This was in line with a statement of President Gompers, 
issued a few weeks before, denouncing Burleson’s “auto- 
cratic methods” and declaring that he must “walk . 

the plank.’’® 


ANTI-AFFILIATION MOVES IN CONGRESS 


The postal administration’s attitude towards the affilia- 
tion question found some support in Congress, especially in 
the Senate, during the last two years of the Burleson régime. 
A great deal of this legislative opposition was based not 
upon the danger of a strike in the public service as for- 
merly, but upon the political activities of the A. F. of L. 
and its reemphasis of its policy to do its utmost to return 
its friends to office and defeat its enemies. Some members 
of Congress took special exception to the announced pur- 
pose of certain affiliated unions of government employees 
to keep close watch on the records of every man in both 
Houses and keep their associates throughout the country 
informed of those records.*® ‘This anti-affiliation sentiment 
in Congress resulted in several attempts, led principally by 
Senator Myers of Montana, to legislate government work- 
ers out of the A. F. of L. 

At a night session of the United States Senate on Novem- 
ber 11, 1919, with only thirteen members present, on Sena- 
tor Myers’ motion the following clause was incorporated 
into the District of Columbia police pay bill: 


“No organization of governmental employees shall 
affiliate with any outside organization which uses the 
strike or which assists any other organization in the 
use of the strike in the adjustment of its grievances.’’*° 


This clause would have barred all federal employees from 
the American Federation of Labor. 

The next morning a delegation of organized federal work- 
ers called upon the conferees on the police bill to protest 
against the amendment. At the same time representatives 
of dozens of unions with government employee members 

87 Same, 345. 
88 Union Postal Clerk, June, 1919, 


Pp. 
32 Congressional Record (66th Cong., fad Sess.), p. 4966. 
4 Congressional Record (66th Cong., 1st Sess.), p. 8306 


OPPOSITION TO ORGANIZATIONS 227 


hurried to the Capitol to oppose the provision. A few days 
later, on the fifteenth, the conference committee eliminated 
the clause and its report was shortly afterwards accepted 
by both Houses. About half a year later Senator Myers 
again moved to keep government workers out of the labor 
movement by the following amendment to the post office 
bill for 1921: 


“That hereafter the civil service law shall not apply 
to any person in the classified civil service who is a 
member of an organization of employees in the service 
of the government which is affiliated with or pays dues 
to an outside organization which attempts, or avows 
its purpose to attempt, to control or influence the elec- 
tion of any Federal or State official.” 


This proposal went out on a point of order from the chair- 
man of the Post Office Committee, Senator Townsend of 
Michigan, himself an anti-affiliationist.* 

Thereupon Mr. Myers moved the fellowing: 


“That no money appropriated by this act shall be 
paid to any employee under the classified civil service 
who is a member of an organization of government 
employees affiliated with an outside organization.” 


This motion, after some discussion in which it was opposed 
by a number of Senators who were not at all friendly to 
“external affiliations,” was defeated by a viva voce vote.*? 

Several members of the Senate Post Office Committee in 
the course of the hearings on this same appropriation bill 
showed a none too friendly attitude towards labor affiliation 
as well as a none too great understanding of the question.** 
According to Chairman Townsend, there was a general 
feeling on the part of the committee that some action similar 
to that proposed by Senator Myers should be taken, but 
because of the certainty that the House would not concur, 
no such action was recommended,** 

Senator Myers made a third and major anti-affiliation 
attempt a few weeks later in the form of an amendment to 
the civil service retirement bill which sought to deny the 


41 Congressional Record (66th Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 4964. 
42 Same, p. 4966. 
“ Hearings: Senate Subcommittee of Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, 
Post Office Appropriation Bill for 1921, pp. 130-134. 
#4 Congressional Record (66th Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 4965. 


228 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


benefits of the act to any person “who is a member of any 
association, society, organization or union of government 
employees which is affiliated with, subject to, or a member 
or component part of, or acknowledges the authority of any 
higher or superior body or institution of organized labor.’’*° 

When this section first came to a vote it was defeated 
by 35 to 3, but, because of the absence of a quorum, the 
vote was not decisive.*® Nevertheless, the question was 
discussed at very great length.*7 This and the delay caused 
by the first indecisive vote gave the supporters of the 
amendment a chance to muster their full strength. Yet in 
spite of this, the amendment was defeated by a vote of 
43 to 3, fifty Senators not voting.*® 

An attempt was again made to insert this clause in the 
retirement bill when it came up in the House. Represen- 
tative Blanton of Texas was the leader of this effort which 
was overwhelmingly defeated by a vote of 318 to 7.*° 

In its belated final report, the Joint Commission on 
Postal Salaries expressed the following unfavorable atti- 
tude towards affiliation: 


“The Commission does not believe that the welfare 
of postal employees or of the public which they serve, 
is advanced by affiliation or association either directly 
or indirectly with labor organizations, the members of 
which are not engaged in postal work. Certainly no 
advantage is secured by affiliation.’’°° 


Eight members of the Commission signed the report con- 
taining this expression, while two dissented from it. No 
attempt was made to give legislative effect to this majority 
view. 

Congressional sentiment against affiliation was somewhat 
stronger than the vote on the various measures to forbid it 
would seem to indicate, for several legislators opposed to 
the movement were reluctant to write their opinions into 
law. On the whole, the very slight positive support which 
the anti-union movement was able to muster only served to 
strengthen the affiliationists’ position. 

45 Sitti Record (66th Cong., 2nd Sess.), p. 515 


2. 
ve Same, p. 5153 47 Same, pp. 5131-50. 48 Same, p. 5164. 
Same, p. 6380, 50 ‘Postal Salaries,’’ pp. 36-7. 


CHAPTER XIV 
THE ORGANIZATIONS TURN TO THE A. F. OF L. 


ADMINISTRATION’S ATTITUDE STRENGTHENS THE MILITANTS 


The Department’s attitude played directly into the 
hands of the militant factions among the employees. Every 
failure to obtain relief by the old method of “working in 
harmony” with the authorities and every rebuff to the 
groups which had formerly depended upon their official 
“stand in” added recruits to the progressive ranks. By 
the end of 1916 the futility of keeping up the pretense 
of friendly cooperation with the Department had become 
apparent to most of the organizations and the year fol- 
lowing saw a complete break between the two parties. 
Still, the change in tactics took its time in coming and 
really did not arrive until every effort had been made to 
exhaust the possibilities of the old accustomed ways. 

In June, 1915, the national convention, or council, as it is 
formally called, of the Railway Mail Association assem- 
bled at San Francisco. The organization was then still 
pursuing its old policy and working along its accustomed 
lines. Resolutions were offered endorsing legislation pend- 
ing in Congress to classify railway post offices, and to 
define the hours and mileage which should constitute a 
day’s work for railway postal clerks. The Department 
opposed this legislation. The convention would not en- 
dorse it, in spite of the fact that it was favored by most 
of the workers.1 To this gathering the Brotherhood of 
Railway Postal Clerks, representing about 2,700 members, 
submitted a statement of the terms on which it would 
merge its identity with the older body.? These included 
a referendum on the question of affiliating with the A. F. 
of L. in addition to certain internal reforms regarding 


1 Hearings: Senate Subcommittee of Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, 
met 17, 24, 25, 1916; Statement of President Ryan of Railway Mail Association, 


Pp. 
a aruai No. 68, June 29, 1915. 
229 


230 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


organization finances and the complete democratization of 
association government. ‘The convention refused to con- 
sider the terms. 


THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES 


A few months after the adjournment of this council the 
convention of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks 
met in the same city. This gathering passed resolutions 
suggesting the amalgamation of the Brotherhood and the 
Federation as a step toward the realization of its ideal of 
a single organization of postal workers affiliated with the 
American Federation of Labor. With practically no oppo- 
sition the membership of the two organizations approved 
the plan. In 1917 the two unions joined forces under the — 
name of the National Federation of Postal Employees. 
This amalgamation, incidentally, ended the Harpoon’s 
eight-year career and what was one of the most interesting 
propagandist journals in the country became a section or 
department of the new Union Postal Employee. 

The formation of the National Federation of Postal 
Employees was an event of tremendous importance in the 
history of postal organizations, even though at the time 
of the amalgamation its membership was hardly 10,000. 
Its jurisdiction was not confined to postal and railway 
mail clerks, but included all postal workers not exercising 
supervisory authority and who were not otherwise eligible 
to membership in a union of the A. F. of L. It was thus 
the first organization of postal employees to be built along 
industrial rather than craft lines. 

Before long groups of letter carriers in several large post 
offices were clamoring for admission to its ranks and in a 
few months the Federation had letter-carrier locals organ- 
ized in Chicago, New Orleans, St. Paul, Washington, D. C., 
Scranton, Pa., Philadelphia and Kalamazoo, Mich. True, 
these unions were small, hardly more than little rump 
organizations, but a split had been made in the ranks of 
the city letter carriers for the first time since the days of 
the old Knights of Labor. And this movement was not 
localized but scattered over a wide area. The principal 
strength of these secessionists was in Chicago, where a 
majority had voted to enter the A. F. of L. in the carriers’ 





ORGANIZATIONS TURN TO A. F. OF L. 281 


referendum of 1914. The National Association of Letter 
Carriers filed vigorous protests with the A. F. of L.,* but 
without avail. Its officers journeyed to the localities where 
defections were threatened or had already taken place and 
did their best to stem the tide. 


THE LETTER CARRIERS AFFILIATE WITH A. F. OF L. 


In September, 1917, the National Association of Letter 
Carriers met in national convention at Dallas. The gen- 
eral discontent in the service and the danger of the organi- 
zation’s disintegration as a result of the new Federation’s 
activities made affiliation the all-important question of the 
day. President Gainor recommended that it be submitted 
to a referendum of the membership. But when delegate 
after delegate arose to say that his constituency was over- 
whelmingly in favor of affiliation and that a referendum 
would but make for unnecessary delay, the convention 
suspended its rules and by a viva voce vote directed the 
secretary to take immediate steps to bring the organization 
into the A. F. of L.6 An agreement was reached between 
the National Federation of Postal Employees and the 
Carriers’ Association, whereby the former surrendered its 
jurisdiction over city carriers and the latter consented to 
receive the secessionists back in its ranks without prejudice 
to their standing. 

Shortly following the Dallas gathering, the required 
number of locals invoked a referendum to test the con- 
vention’s action. The result was a vote of 23,551 in favor 
of affiliation to 1,971 against it. The convention’s action 
was thus sustained by a majority of 21,580.° In less than 
four years a majority of more than 15,000 against affilia- 
tion with the labor movement had been changed to one of 
more than 21,000 in its favor. 

This was, of course, largely an anti-Burleson vote. 
Though the convention might have been influenced to an 
extent by the inroads the National Federation of Postal 
Employees had made on the Carrier Association’s strength 
and the fear of these inroads becoming greater, this factor 
weighed little with the rank and file. Undoubtedly a great 
many carriers had become convinced by the experiences of 


3 Above, p. 185. 4 Postal Record, October, 1917, pp. 327-8. 
5 Same, pp. 270-5. 6 Same, March, 1918, pp. 59-60. 


232 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


the few years past of the necessity of the support of the 
general labor movement, but by and large the huge vote 
for affiliation was an expression of resentment against the 
Postmaster General and his policies. As one carrier put 
it: “If Mr. Burleson is against affiliation, if he wants to 
prevent an alliance with the A. F. of L., then affiliation 
and such an alliance must be just the things we need.’ 


THE RAILWAY MAIL ASSOCIATION AFFILIATES 


But even more astonishing than the change in sentiment 
among the carriers was that among the railway postal 
clerks. The Railway Mail Association’s convention met 
at Cleveland, Ohio, in June, 1917, and in conformity with 
President Ryan’s recommendation directed a referendum 
on the affiliation question. By 6,827 votes to 2,072 the 
membership endorsed the proposition.* The National 
Federation of Postal Employees reached an agreement with 
the Railway Mail Association similar to that which it had 
made with the carriers, and in December, 1917, this ultra- 
conservative organization came into the A. F. of L. 

That the Railway Mail Association should by a vote of 
more than three to one have ordered such affiliation was 
almost unbelievable. Yet the sentiment was unmistakable. 
Prior to the meeting of the national convention the ques- 
tion had been allowed to come to a vote in four division 
associations and had been overwhelmingly approved in 
each. On the final referendum but four small local 
branches recorded a majority against the proposition. This 
vote, like the carriers’, was an expression of resentment 
against Mr. Burleson. Not a few who voted with the 
majority believed they were endorsing the step as a tempo- 
rary measure to meet an immediate situation. For the 
time being they consented to waive all other considerations. 
The national president, Mr. E. J. Ryan, expressed the 
attitude of those members when, referring to one of the 
objections to affiliation, he said: “This presentation looks 
to the future and is met by the contention that the imme- 
diate present demands a radical remedy and that there 
will be no future worthy cf consideration if the present 
trend of policies is permitted to continue.’® 


7 Union Postal Employe, February, 1918, p. 23. 
8 Same, December, 1917, p. 32. 
® Report of President Ryan: Railway Post Office, July, 1917, p. 27. 


ORGANIZATIONS TURN TO A. F. OF L. 233 


To express their resentment toward the Department’s 
policies and to check their trend, practically all of the city 
letter carriers and practically all of the white’? railway 
postal clerks joined forces with the official labor movement. 
The National Federation of Postal Employees again be- 
came a clerks’ organization. A few mechanics and other 
such employees remained within its ranks, but their num- 
ber was negligible. For more than a year the Federation 
continued under its broader title until its national conven- 
tion of September, 1919, when its style again became the 
National Federation of Post Office Clerks. 

In view of the course of events in the other branches of 
the service, it might reasonably have been expected that 
the long-standing schism in the ranks of the clerical body 
would also have been healed and that a united organization 
of those workers would have taken its place beside the 
other postal groups in the American Federation of Labor. 
At the time the other affiliations were taking place, the 
United National Association of Post Office Clerks was 
experiencing a large falling off of membership.1t At the 
same time the Federation was making rapid gains. 


THE CLERKS’ ORGANIZATIONS FAIL TO UNITE 


In October, 1917, in conformity with the instructions of 
its national convention which had met at Fort Worth, 
Texas, the month before, a committee of the United Na- 
tional Association waited on Secretary Morrison of the 
A. F. of L. and made formal application for a national 
charter from that body. The Federation of Labor had no 
choice but to refuse the request. The National Federation 
of Postal Employees already had jurisdiction over postal 
clerks. Under its rules the A. F. of L. could not charter 
two organizations in the same craft. But at its suggestion 
a conference was arranged between representatives of the 
two rival clerks’ associations with a view to their amalga- 
mation. 

The National Federation insisted that the principle of 


_ 2° Several organizations of government employees, like a great many other Amer- 
ican labor organizations, pursue the policy of drawing the color line. 

Post Office Clerk, December, 1918, pp. 11 and 13. In about a year the member- 
ship had fallen from about twenty-six or seven thousand to about fifteen or 
sixteen thousand. The war could not account for this falling off, because other 
postal employee organizations did not experience it and the trade union movement 
in general made unprecedented membership gains during the war period. 


234 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


affiliation be conceded at the outset. They held that the 
issue was not debatable and that no negotiations could go 
on until it was conceded. The United National had con- 
ceded the principle by requesting a charter from the A. F. 
of L. Yet when the Clerks’ Federation submitted a resolu- 
tion to the joint conference to make it possible for the legis- 
lative agents of both organizations “to cooperate and to 
work in harmony” “pending the time when all post office 
clerks shall be under the banner of the American Federation 
of Labor,” the Association refused to give its sanction.” 

Several conferences were held. Proposals and counter 
proposals were made. The negotiations throughout were 
marked by mutual distrust and suspicion.t* Plan after 
plan was advanced and rejected first by one party then 
by the other. Each group accused the other of insincerity 
and selfishness. To ease the situation the president and 
secretary of the Federation offered to resign their offices, 
but their own colleagues would not permit such a step. 
When, at length, it was found to be impossible to bring the 
Association conferees to concede the principle of affiliation, 
the Federation suggested that they submit this question to 
a vote of their membership. At the same time the Asso- 
ciation proposed a joint convention of the two bodies to 
“decide finally the future policies of the organization and 
the result of the convention to be binding to all.” This 
dodged the affiliation issue. The Federation refused the 
offer and there the matter rested until its 1919 convention. 

This gathering ended all hope of agreement. It even 
voted down a suggestion to resume negotiations after the 
_ Association should have taken a referendum on the affilia- 
tion issue. It declared the “amalgamation question a local 
one to be put into effect by merging of existing Federation 
unions and Association branches upon mutually satisfac- 
tory terms.” The convention also decided that in offices 
where no union existed charters might be issued to Unapoc 
branches free of charge.'4 

The Federation thus closed the door to compromise. It 
felt that the trend of events was in its favor. The indica- 


12 Union Postal Clerk, October, 1919, p. 207. 

18 For review of the negotiations see Report of Secretary-Treasurer of National 
Federation of Postal Employees, September, 1919, pp. 24-27. Also Post Office Clerk, 
December, 1918, pp. 10-15, 18-25, and May, 1919, p. 18, 

144 Union Postal Clerk, October, 1919, p. 8, 


ORGANIZATIONS TURN TO A. F. OF L. 285 


tions seemed to be that it would soon absorb the Associa- 
tion, so it was not anxious to put itself out to accommodate 
what it believed to be a rapidly disintegrating rival. It 
would offer no terms. It would surrender none of its 
advantages. In a few years it had grown from a small 
organization of protest to one which could dispute the 
position of its weakening rival as the representative asso- 
ciation in its craft. 

With the failure of the negotiations a “fight to the finish” 
set in and the enmity of the two associations has since 
been greater than ever. Each group, in its campaign 
against the other, has taken so hard and fast a position 
and has committed itself to such an extent that an agree- 
ment seems impossible. 


UNAPOC’S ANTI-UNION ACTIVITIES 


The Association has not entirely disintegrated, as the 
Federation had hoped, but has held on and has become 
the center of propaganda against trade unionism among 
government workers. In its fight against this movement 
it has, naturally, directed most of its energies against its 
rival, but at the same time, though protesting its friendship 
for organized labor,® it has engaged in bitter attacks 
against the American Federation of Labor and the labor 
movement as a whole. 

On one occasion its organ, the Post Office Clerk, went so 
far as to reprint from the New York Times an article by 
a prominent English manufacturer called “Unionism as Foe 
of Labor,” and to give it a place of honor as leading article 
of the issue.1° The editor prefaced this article with a note 
saying: “The thought appears irrepressible and it is be- 
lieved will impress all Post Office Clerks similarly, that if 
Unionism is in truth the foe of Labor for the outside 
worker how much greater foe must it be to the government 
employee.” At the same time the journal gave the manu- 
facturer’s opinions its complete endorsement in an editorial 
saying: “The article goes to the very core in exposing the 
fallacious logic of the agitators who are innocently or 
intentionally blind to the shortcomings of their cause... .” 


© Post Office Clerk, December, 1919, pp. 19-20, editorial entitled, ‘Our Position 
as Regards Entangling Alliances.”’ This ee also appeared in Harvey’s Weekly 
for Sept. bo , 1919. See also, Post Office Clerk, March, 1919, pp. 3-10, debate, 
President Hyatt of Federation vs. President Franciscus of U. N. A. P. O. C. 
16 Post Office Clerk, June, 1919. 


236 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


THE UNAPOC WINS DEPARTMENT’S FAVOR 


When the unionized groups adopted a policy of frank 
opposition to the Department, the clerks’ Association as- 
sumed a conciliatory attitude. When the administration 
placed itself on record as being especially opposed to “out- 
side affiliations,” though declaring at the same time that 
“sovernment employees should be permitted to organize for 
their social and general welfare,” the Unapoe adopted a 
policy calculated to win Departmental favor. Its anti- 
labor attitude must, in no small measure, be judged in this 
light. To remain on the friendliest terms possible with the 
Departmental authorities had always been a cardinal 
principle of the clerks’ Association. Now the new turn 
of events accentuated that policy. Under the circum- 
stances it was their only alternative. Of course, seeking 
to appease the Burleson administration in order to win 
concessions was no easy task. Yet the organization made 
that policy its principal ground of appeal. Thus the na- 
tional secretary, Mr. William F. Gibbons, wrote a gentle- 
man in Syracuse, N. Y., saying: “I hope that the members 
will allow their better judgment to prevail and remain 
loyal to the U. N. A. P. O. C. because the Department is 
absolutely opposed to Post Office Employees affiliating with 


any outside organization but have no objections to their 
maintaining an organization of their own.’’?? 

On another occasion, while the amalgamation and affili- 
ation question was still under discussion, the president of 
the United National Association, Mr. Franciscus,’* con- 
demned the representatives of the affiliated postal em- 
ployees for having secured the passage by the A. F. of L. 
convention of “a most vicious arraignment of Postmaster 
General Burleson.’’!® | 


17 Letter dated at Washington, D. C., Jan. 25, 1918. This letter, incidentally, 
was written but a few months after Secretary Gibbons had, in the company of 
other association officers, asked Secretary Morrison of the A. F. of L. for a national 
charter of affiliation. The letter increased the distrust on the part of the clerks’ 
federation and helped to furnish it plausible grounds on which to charge the 
association with insincerity during the negotiations. 

18 J¢ should be said that Mr. Franciscus had personally always sincerely opposed 
affiliation. However, he was willing, if the association decided to affiliate, to stand 
by the decision of the majority. See Post Office Clerk, March, 1919, p. 5. Yet it 
was under Mr. Franciscus’ acting editorship that the Post Office Clerk took so 
of its most extreme anti-labor stands. 

1 Post Office Clerk, March, 1919, p. 10; see above. 


a ; 
ORGANIZATIONS TURN TO A. F. OF L. 237 


THE UNAPOC SUPPORTS POSTMASTER SELPH OF ST. LOUIS 


Sometimes the Association carried its support of those 
in authority to unfortunate extremes, as when its St. Louis 
branch backed and defended “Czar” Selph, the local post- 
master whose administration was the very low mark of 
the Burleson régime. In an article in the Post Office Clerk 
called “The Postmaster at St. Louis as the Post Office 
Clerks Know Him,” a member of the Association branch 
attacked the local “Feds” for their opposition to Selph. 
The article said: “We feel that this attack on our Post- 
master is an attack on our Association and every right- 
thinking employee in the St. Louis post office.’”?° 

Yet the charges against Postmaster Selph continued and 
complaints against him grew in volume. An inquiry into 
his conduct was made by the House Committee on Ex- 
penditures in the Post Office Department. As a result of 
the evidence presented to it, the committee unanimously 
decided to request an official investigation of Selph’s 
administration. The inspectors assigned to the work con- 
firmed the charges.*! Selph was removed from office shortly 
before his term expired. Among their several conclusions 
as to the postmaster’s misconduct the inspectors found: 


“That antagonism has been shown the National 
Federation of Post Office Clerks and the National 
Association of Letter Carriers. 

“Members of the National Federation of Post Office 
Clerks swear that they had to secure a president 
outside of the service because the postmaster made 
trouble or caused the removal of any clerk who ac- 
cepted the office. Carriers give instances of numerous 
indignities and discipline suffered by officers of their 
organization. Other organizations in the office were 
favored. He harassed and persecuted officers of the 
two organizations named evidently because they re- 
fused to allow him to control them.?? 


FIRST ASSISTANT KOONS ATTENDS UNAPOC CONVENTION 


The affiliation movement had its effect on the Depart- 
ment as well as on the clerks’ Association. Its hostility 


20 December, 1919, p. 21. 

yap es i of report of post office inspectors in Postal Record, March, 1912, 
p. 51-2. 

# Inspectors’ Memorandum, Item No. & 


238 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


toward organizations in general became a particular hos- 
tility toward organizations connected with the official labor 
movement. When the Association, after its failure to 
obtain a charter from the A. F. of L., began to seek support 
because non-affiliation was in official favor, the authorities 
did not turn a cold shoulder. Perhaps they saw in the 
Association an instrument for driving a disrupting wedge 
into the ranks of the groups toward whom they were openly 
antagonistic. 

In September, 1920, the First Assistant, Mr. Koons, 
addressed the Unapoc convention. To no other organiza- 
tion had a representative of the Department shown such 
attention since the Fourth Assistant had delivered a hostile 
and critical address to the rural carriers’ gathering in 
1914.2 But Mr. Koons’ speech was different. He de- 
fended and endorsed the Postmaster General’s attitude 
toward employee organizations, saying that the workers 
had a right to form mutual benefit and welfare organiza- 
tions solely within the service, but should not be permitted 
to afhliate with outside organizations. 


“A great deal,” he said, “has been said about your 
own organization by those who are opposed to it. I 
have had the honor to know three of your presidents, 
the last three. I have never known gentlemen of 
higher standing, men who were ever zealous and anx- 
ious to do what was right for you and at the same 
time what was right for the postal service, and so 
far as I know no national officer of your organization 
has ever been removed from the service. 

“It has been said that no officer of an organization 
can get along with the Post Office Department, but, 
gentlemen, our relations with your organization have 
been most cordial.”?5 


DEPARTMENT'S HOSTILITY WEAKENS RURAL CARRIERS’ 
ASSOCIATION 


_ The National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association neither 
joined the A. F. of L. nor met with official approval. The 
effect of the Department’s opposition in the case of this 


ia ete Ps oe 
roceedings 20t onvention of U. N. A. P. O. C., September, 1920, in Post 
Office Clerk, November, 1920, pp. 41-6. ea om 

2> Same, p. 43, 


ORGANIZATIONS TURN TO A. F. OF L. = 2389 


organization was different—in fact, about opposite—from 
what it was in the case of the other groups. Instead of 
making it strong and militant it almost succeeded in dis- 
rupting it. 

In 1914 the organization met in convention at Washing- 
ton. Its membership, which had never before been so large, 
included nearly sixty per cent of the rural carrier body. 
In accordance with custom, the Fourth Assistant Post- 
master General was asked to address the delegates. He 
came, but he spoke no words of welcome and encourage- 
ment. His speech, on the other hand, was unfriendly and 
severely critical of the Association’s policy.?° 

Following this gathering there was a marked falling off 
in the membership of the organization. Before the next 
annual convention the decrease amounted to about 4,000, 
or approximately one-fifth of the membership of a year 
ago. This drop continued steadily, so that in 1917 the 
Association included but fifteen per cent of the whole 
carrier body.?7 After allowing for the increase in service 
personnel during that period, it will be seen from these 
figures that the organization lost at least sixty-five per 
cent of its members in three years. 

The Department’s anti-organization activities were so 
successful here chiefly because these employees came into 
such little contact with their fellow workers. The rural 
postman read the Postmaster General’s reports and pro- 
nouncements and his continual attacks in the Postal Bulle- 
tin. He read them by himself. He turned them over in 
his mind. There was seldom a fellow carrier with whom 
he could discuss them. His Association had no local unit 
—the very life of effective organization—made up of men 
who worked together or who came into constant contact 
with one another. He didn’t know what the other carriers 
thought or what they were going to do. He felt it safest 
not to offend the powers whom he could not defy alone. So 
he yielded to official pressure and left the organization. 


DISSATISFACTION WITH THE EDITOR OF THE R. F. D. NEWS 


But that did not account for the whole deflection. There 
was another factor that had long been iA oasis eos 


2#*R. F. D. News, Aug. 22, 1914, rey p. 4; Brown’s speech, 
27 These figures were furnished by Mr. E. D. Landwehr, President of cn ‘National 
Rural Letter Carriers’ Association. 


240 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


the administration’s attitude now greatly accentuated. For 
some time there had been a growing dissatisfaction over 
the position and influence in the organization of W. D. 
Brown, the Association’s counsel, the editor and owner of 
the R. F. D. News. Some foolishly held Brown responsible 
for the Department’s hostility because the News had taken 
so firm and uncompromising a stand against its recom- 
mendations, while others held him to blame for the organi- 
zation’s weakness and inability to withstand official attacks 
because he had dominated it for so long and ruled it with 
so strong a hand. He had prevented the choice, they said, 
of strong and independent officers because he feared that 
they would threaten his position and authority. 


' THE DEPARTMENT PLAYS THE ASSOCIATION AGAINST THE 
NEWS 


Following the 1914 gathering, the national officers ad- 
dressed 4 communication to the Fourth Assistant, asking 
for a meeting with him. The request was not only curtly 
refused, but the official in his reply ignored the Association 
and addressed the national president merely as a rural 
carrier. 

A little later in the season one of the state branch asso- 
ciations invited one of the United States Senators from its 
state to address its convention. The Senator was a very 
prominent member of the upper house who had fought 
vigorously in the rural carriers’ behalf in their tilt with the 
Department. Official pressure was immediately brought 
to bear upon the state association leaders and they were 
forced to cancel their invitation to the Senator after he had 
accepted it. 

The 1915 national convention was held at Detroit in 
August. This time the Fourth Assistant communicated 
with the gathering in terms of marked cordiality. This 
surprising change of attitude was at the same time accom- 
panied by actions on the part of various groups of delegates 
which led many to suspect the authorities of partisan politi- 
cal designs upon the organization. The convention could 
not be brought to take a decided stand on any question 
of interest to the postmen toward which the authorities were 
or might be expected to be unfavorable.?8 

FR. F. D. News, August 21, 1915, pp. 1 ff. 


ORGANIZATIONS TURN TO A. F. OF L. 241 


The R. F. D. News was among the first to deplore the 
situation. In an editorial it said: 


“There is a wide difference between courage and 
defiance. The officers of the Association should appeal 
with courage, firmness, and reason for desired changes 
in some of the policies of the Department and the 
Department should consider such efforts as looking 
toward the welfare of the service and not as defiance 
of its orders. . . . It is earnestly hoped that officials 
of the Department and the national Association will 
get together and discuss and relieve at least some 
of the conditions which now bear so heavily upon many 
carriers. 

“In any event the national Association will be ex- 
pected to do its part and keep the carriers promptly 
informed of every movement. It will be expected to 
come out in the open and be fair and honest in all its 
dealings. The conduct of its officers should determine 
whether the Association should flourish or decay. And 
partisan political development will be awaited with 
keen interest. 

“The future of the national Association is suspended 
in the balance. Which way will it incline?’?® 


This situation drove hundreds more out of the organiza- 
tion, while at the same time the Department refused to 
meet the Association’s representatives in the manner of 
the R. F. D. News’ suggestion. But Brown managed to 
maintain his commanding influence in organization coun- 
cils. Naturally, increasing numbers held him responsible 
for the unsatisfactory state of affairs and the old cleavage 
between the Brown and the anti-Brown factions became 
sharper. 

In the fall of 1918 one of the foremost of the anti-Brown 
men, the president of the Pennsylvania State Branch Asso- 
ciation, J. Cletus Stambaugh, began the publication of a 
monthly paper, the Rural Delivery Record. Officially this 
paper was the organ of the state association. Actually it 
was the mouthpiece of the anti-Brown faction. 


29 Same, p. 4. 


242 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


BROWN AND THE AFFILIATION MOVEMENT 


In 1917, with affiliation sentiment running high among 
other postal workers, a group of rural carriers began an 
agitation to bring their Association into the Labor Federa- 
tion. This movement was especially strong among men 
whose routes radiated from urban post offices and who 
thus came in contact with numbers of city workers. The 
1917 convention of the Association directed the appoint- 
ment of a committee to investigate the question and report 
to the next gathering. 

The committee reported in 1919 that one member was 
“in favor of affiliation at once,’ one was “absolutely op- 
posed” and two were ‘‘to some extent favorable,” but felt 
that ‘due to the unrest in our nation at the present time” 
it was best to refer the matter back to the state conven- 
tions to be held in 1920 so that delegates to the next national 
gathering could be properly instructed.*° The question was 
referred back as the two committeemen suggested. 

Meanwhile Brown had come out against affiliation in 
the columns of the News. The principal reason for his 
opposition was that the rural carriers’ best friends in the 
Senate and House looked upon the proposition with dis- 
favor.* Gradually Brown assumed a position more and 
more antagonistic to the labor movement. When the affili- 
ation question came up for final consideration in 1920 he 
was at the head of the opposition and delivered a speech 
which was a bitter attack upon the position of organized 
labor.8? The convention then rejected affiliation by a 
unanimous vote.*® 

It was at this convention at Dayton that anti-Brown 
feeling came to a head. It was charged that delegations 
of a number of the large states were seated in violation of 
the rules, in that the provision that all per capita taxes 
forwarded to the national secretary should be accompanied 
by the names of the members was ignored in the cases of 
the delegations from Wisconsin, Ohio and Missouri. 


THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF RURAL CARRIERS 


This was a signal for revolt. A number of anti-Brown 
men, led principally by Stambaugh of Pennsylvania, with- 


9 R. F. D. News, Oct. 4, 1919, p. 20. 31 Same, June 29, 1918, p. 4. 
32 Same, Oct. 23, 1920, pp. 16-17. % Same, p. 1. 


ORGANIZATIONS TURN TO A. F. OF L. 248 


drew from the convention and formed a new organization, 
the National Federation of Rural Letter Carriers. This 
new group assumed the ownership and control of the Rural 
Delivery Record and shortly affiliated with the A. F. of L. 
as a national union. 

The break in the rural carrier ranks was an expression 
of anti-Brown far more than anti-Burleson sentiment. It 
is exceedingly unlikely that the affiliation question would 
have occasioned a split among these employees if it had 
not become tied up with the anti-Brown issue. Even when 
the bolt occurred it was an anti-Brown rather than pro- 
affiliation bolt. Affiliation was primarily a weapon with 
which to fight the editor’s influence. But the seceding 
carriers knew that they were but a tiny minority organi- 
zation and could hope for no progress unless they could 
secure the support and cooperation of the other postal 
unions. To obtain this support it was necessary to join 
the A. F. of L. 

The National Federation attracted some of the more 
advanced and progressive R. F. D. men to its ranks. It 
hardly hoped, at least for a long time to come, to be more 
than a minority movement of protest. By owning and 
controlling its own organ and by being represented by its 
own Officers rather than by an outside attorney who must 
look upon the postmen as his clients rather than his fel- 
lows, the new organization attempted to overcome, at the 
outset, the principal causes of dissension and complaint in 
the older organization. Its most extravagant membership 
claim was that it represented almost five per cent of the 
whole rural carrier force.** And its claim was most cer- 
tainly too high. 

But even when all else is discounted, the Burleson 
administration contributed its share to the causes which 
drew the rural postmen into the A. F. of L. through the 
impetus it gave to postal unionism in general and through 
the dissatisfaction which it aroused in the ranks of the old 
Association. 


84 Rural Delivery Record, June, 1921, p. 8. 


CHAPTER XV 
“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 


HAYS SEES THAT ORGANIZATIONS HAVE COME TO STAY 


Will H. Hays’ administration seemed to mark the coming 
of a new era in postal labor history. Hays was the first 
Postmaster General to see the futility of the old way of 
dealing with the employees. He saw that workers’ organ- 
ization had come to stay and that it had demonstrated its 
ability to function despite official let or hindrance. He 
shaped his labor policy to conform in large measure with 
these facts. 

But the change was not due only to his ability to see 
more clearly than his predecessors. Burleson’s policy had 
been an important issue in the election campaign of 1920. 
Republican leaders counted it one of their principal assets. 
The attitude of the workers had made it good politics to 
make Burleson such an issue and to promise a “complete 
reversal” of his policies. Hays merely faced the situation 
as it was and pursued his policy accordingly. The change 
was primarily the work of the employees themselves. Their 
agitation practically forced it upon the administration. 

The incoming administration set out to give its plans 
effect in a rather ostentatious manner. Hays’ successful 
career as a political leader had taught him the value of 
publicity. He never failed to let the press and public know 
every change away from Burleson that was either made or 
contemplated. 


HAYS BEGINS TO ““HUMANIZE” THE SERVICE 


A few days after taking up his duties the Postmaster 
General announced: 


“The Postal Establishment is not an institution for 
profit or politics; it is an institution for service, and it 
is the President’s purpose that every effort shall be 
made to improve that service. 

244 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 245 


“Every effort shall be made to humanize the indus- 
try. Labor is not a commodity. That idea was aban- 
doned 1,921 years ago next Easter. There are 300,000 
employees. They have the brain and they have the 
hand to do the job well; and they shall have the heart 
to do it well. We purpose to approach this matter 
so that they shall be partners with us in this busi- 
TG Me sys. 


In his effort to let everyone know that the Department 
was no longer a cold, harsh, machine-like institution, Hays 
ordered a change in its forms of correspondence, orders, and 
notices. The cold, impersonal style of the bureaucrat was 
dropped and in its place there was substituted the warm, 
heartfelt, personal touch of the “advertising man.” Thus, 
for example, when it was found impossible under the rules 
to grant a request for the reinstatement of an employee, 
the interested party was no longer “stereotypedly” told: 


“Reference is made to your letter of the tenth instant. 
“Mr. . . . has now been out of the service for more 
than a year and is no longer eligible for reinstatement 
under civil service rules. 
“Sincerely yours,” 


Instead, the interested party was told with a “personal 
touch” and in “humanized” fashion: 


“T have not been unmindful of your letter of the 
tenth instant, ete. ... As you know, under the civil 
service rules, an employee who has been out of the 
service for more than a year is ineligible for reinstate- 
ment. Mr. ... unfortunately falls within that class. 

“With very best wishes, always, I am 

“Sincerely yours,” 


Along with this change of forms there came official admo- 
nitions directing the workers to be pleasant, to say “thank 
you,” and to be courteous, to cooperate with patrons and 
with the municipal authorities, etc., etc. All this was one 
aspect of the “humanizing” policy, an attempt to change 
the tone of the service from that detached, routine, official 
air of a government department to the familiar eager-to- 
please tone of a private business concern. 

1 Postal Bulletin, March 11, 1921. 


246 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


ORGANIZATIONS ‘‘RECOGNIZED” 


But this was by no means all there was to Hays’ reforms. 
He righted many Burleson injustices. One of the most 
important of such acts, the reinstatement of the Chicago 
clerks, has already been mentioned. He established a 
welfare division and called to Washington two of the most 
successful industrial welfare directors in the country to 
supervise its work.* He extended official recognition to 
employee organizations and announced: “I have met and 
am meeting, and want to continue to meet, the heads of 
all postal organizations just as often as it is convenient 
for them to see me. This, I understand, is a change in 
practice.’’ 


THE WELFARE DIRECTOR INVESTIGATES CONDITIONS 


Shortly after his appointment the welfare director began 
an extended tour of investigation, inspecting and studying 
sanitary and other working conditions, including grievances 
regarding promotions, ratings, seniority, etc., in over one 
hundred post offices and substations, railway mail cars, and 
terminals in all parts of the country. This survey was 
supplemented by a lengthy questionnaire to all first and ~ 
second class offices asking specific and detailed information 
under the following heads: 


Number of employees by position 
Square feet of floor space occupied 
Post office building 
Side wall space 
General appearance of specified places at 5 p.m. 
Lighting 
Heating 
Janitor service 
Toilet facilities 
Lockers and care of clothing 
Elevator service 
Ventilation 
Working comfort 
2 Above, p. 225. 
_ 8Dr. Lee K. Frankel of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company organized the 
Welfare Department. He then resigned in favor of Mr. H. 8. Dennison of the 
Dennison Manufacturing Company, who had served for some time as assistant 


director. 
4 Post Office Department Reports (Postmaster General), 1921, p. 56. 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 247 


Water supply 

Washroom facilities 

Fire protection of personnel and mails 

Recreation facilities 

Provision for medical care of employees 

Mutual aid during sickness 

Luncheons 

Training employees for efficient service 

Turnover in permanent positions in year ended 
June 30, 1921 

Civil service examinations 

Efficiency ratings 

Suggestions and grievances 

Cultivating good will 

Social organizations in office 


The welfare director arranged to have the United States 
Public Health Service make periodic inspections of the 
sanitary conditions of important offices and to take steps 
towards improving lighting conditions, particularly the 
lighting for distributing cases. At the same time reports 
with recommendations on sanitary conditions were made 
part of the regular duties of inspectors. 


THE NATIONAL WELFARE COUNCIL 


But most important of the welfare division’s acts was 
the call it issued to the representatives of the national 
postal organizations to meet at the Department for the 
purpose of forming a national welfare council. As first 
organized this body consisted of representatives of the 
following organizations: 


National Association of Letter Carriers 

National Rural Letter Carriers’ Associations 

National Federation of Rural Letter Carriers 

National Federation of Post Office Clerks 

United National Association of Post Office Clerks 

Railway Mail Association 

National Association of Post Office Laborers 

National Association of Supervisory Post Office Em- 
ployees 

National Federation of Federal Employees 


248 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


The last named group represented some employees under 
the Postmaster General who did not come under the juris- 
diction of the other organizations. The Department was 
represented by the welfare director. After a time, the 
National Association of Postmasters, representing first and 
second class postmasters, and the National League of Post- 
masters, representing third and fourth class postmasters, 
became affiliated with the council. An organization known 
as the National Council of Supervisory Officials of the 
Railway Mail Service has recently been formed to give 
representation to the railway mail officers, while the Na- 
tional Federation of Federal Employees has been dropped 
on the grounds that it was not a postal organization. 

The constitution of the National Welfare Council accords 
membership in that body to “all national organizations of 
postal workers.”’ Representation is equal, each association 
being allowed two delegates.° 

The objects of the council are defined thus: 


“The object of this council shall be the betterment 
of the Postal Service generally, the improvement of 
the working conditions, and the bringing about of 
closer cooperation and better understanding among the 
public, the officials, and the employees of the Postal 
Service.’ 


Its duties are set forth as follows: 


“Tt shall be the duty of the council to consider 
matters of national interest which have relation to 
the accomplishment of the objects stated in Article II. 
All matters affecting working conditions of employees 
or relations between employees and the Post Office 
Department, or cooperation between employees, offi- 
cials, and the public, are legitimate subjects for dis- ” 
cussion and consideration by the council. 

“Questions of national importance may be consid- — 
ered by the council if these are referred to it by the 
Post Office Department, by local welfare councils, by © 
postmasters, or by employees. The council may of — 
its own initiative consider such questions. Appeals — 


5 Constitutions of the National Welfare Council, Article III. 
6 Same, Article II. 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 249 


from rulings of local administrative officials shall be 
considered by the council when these are referred to 
it by the Post Office Department. The council may 
request the department to refer to it for consideration, 
appeals which have been brought to the council’s no- 
tice by others. The findings of the council as expressed 
in a majority vote shall be transmitted through the 
chairman to the Postmaster General.’”? 


OBJECTS AND DUTIES OF LOCAL COUNCILS 


Local councils were established at first and second class 
offices. The National Council drew up a model constitu- 
tion for these bodies under which they were organized as 
follows: 


“Tn each first-class post office there shall be a coun- 
cil of not more than eight members, of whom three 
shall be elected by the letter carriers, three by the 
post office clerks, and two by the supervisory officials. 
In cities where there are railway mail terminal em- 
ployees, post office laborers, motor-vehicle employees, 
or rural letter earriers, these may, on their request, be 
entitled to one member each and the council enlarged 
correspondingly. Annually in December all employees 
‘in each group shall assemble and elect their represen- 
tatives to the council. A majority vote of those 
present shall be necessary for election.’’® 


Their objects and duties were defined thus: 


“The object of this council shall be to increase the 
efficiency of the Postal Service in the city of : 
to improve working conditions in the post office, and 
to effect closer cooperation and better understanding 
among the public, the officials, and the employees of 
the Postal Service.’® 

“Tt shall be the duty of each council to consider the 
matters of local interest which have relation to the 
accomplishment of the object stated in Article II. All 
matters that affect working conditions of employees, 
whether these deal with sanitation, efficiency, or co- 

7Same, Article VII. 


8 Model Constitution of Local Welfare Councils, Article III. 
*Same, Article II. 





250 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


operation between employees, officials, and the public, 
are legitimate subjects for discussion and consideration 
by the council. 

“Grievances of employees may be considered by the 
council in its advisory capacity if presented in writing 
by the member representing the employee. The coun- 
cil may at its discretion permit the employee to appear 
in person and produce witnesses. The views of the 
council as expressed in a majority vote shall be trans- 
mitted to the postmaster for his consideration. Simi- 
larly, the council may consider suggestions and recom- 
mendations of employees for the betterment of the 
service, and in a similar fashion, shall transmit these 
as approved by the council on a majority vote for the 
consideration of the postmaster.”?° 


County councils were organized to meet the needs of 
third and fourth class postmasters and rural carriers and 
a departmental council was formed to represent the 2,600 
employees of the Department and mail-equipment shops 
who, although coming under the jurisdiction of the Post- 
master General, are not technically “postal employees.” 

The functions of the councils are purely advisory. They 
do not give the employees the “voice in management” 
towards which a large section of the labor movement 
aspires, but they do provide an official channel through 
which the organized workers can reach their superiors and 
make their grievances heard as well as offer suggestions 
for the improvement of the service. They have not 
“democratized” the postal industry nor have they moved 
it very far in that direction, but they have shown that the 
administration was attempting to give some degree of 
recognition to the so-called “human element” which the 
Department had hitherto ignored. 


“WELFARE COUNCILS” BECOME ‘‘SERVICE COUNCILS” 


Mr. Hays never contended that the councils were a step 
toward industrial democracy, but rather that they were 
an attempt at the democratization of “industrial welfare 
work.” Workers in industry have usually opposed or 
looked with disfavor on such work because it has been 


10 Same, Article IX. 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 251 


conducted by the employers in a paternalistic spirit and 
rather patronizing manner. But it was hoped that postal 
welfare work, though sponsored by the Department, would 
function largely through the employees themselves in their 
national and local councils. But even under these circum- 
stances the very word “welfare” still had an unpleasant 
ring in the ears of the workers. For this reason Postmaster 
General Work announced that from January 1, 1923, the 
welfare division would be known as the “division of service 
relations,” while the name of the National Welfare Council 
would be changed to the “National Service Relations Coun- 
cil” and that of the local bodies to “Local Service Coun- 
ceils.” In announcing these changes the Postmaster General 
said: “More speedily, I believe, than has been the expe- 
rience of industrial concerns, we have outgrown the term 
‘welfare,’ which now only partially expresses the scope of 
the Department’s personnel policy.’’!+ 

It will be some time before any fair estimate can be 
made of the place and accomplishments of the councils and 
personnel division.*? It is still too early to gauge their 
effect on the standard of the service, on the workers and 
on the organization movement. Employee councils are not 
new to government establishments either in this country 
or abroad, but there can be little value in making predic- 
tions for the postal councils on the basis of other perform- 
ances. 


OTHER GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE COUNCILS 


The Whitley council system, which has been established in 
the British civil service for the past few years, has worked 
well in some departments, while it has left conditions un- 


11 Postal Bulletin, Dec. 28, 1922. 

12 The Welfare Division of the Post Office Department, a mimeographed pam- 
phlet compiled by Maud Harris, secretary to the director, gives an official account 
up to April 4, 1922. See also article by Dr. Lee K. Frankel, first welfare director, 
“Humanizing the Post Office Department,’ in The Survey, December 17, 1921, p. 
434, and “One Year of Welfare Work,’ by President Gainor, National As- 
sociation of Letter Carriers, in Postal Record, November, 1922, p. 273. More 
lengthy discussions may be found in Proceedings of the Academy of Political 
Science, Vol. IX, No. 4, January, 1922, Constructive Experiments in Industrial 
Cooperation Between Employers and Employees, Frankel, Lee K., ‘Personnel 
Work in the Post Office Department,” pp. 149-153; Mosher, W. E., ‘‘Personnel 
Administration in the Federal Government,’ pp. 178-9; Hays, Will H., ‘‘The 
Value of Good Will in Government Employment,’ pp. 130-140. See also Mr. 
Hays’ article, ‘‘The Human Side of the Postal Service,’’ Review of Reviews, 
December, 1921, pp. 629-32; and Report of the Postmaster General, 1923, pp. 42-3. 


252 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


changed in others? and has proved especially disappointing 
in the postal service.4 These councils, on which the ad- 
ministration and the staff, through their organizations, are 
equally represented, are not “advisory and consultive only,” 
as was originally planned. The decisions of the National 
Council in theory, at least, carry the weight of real author- 
ity. Its constitution provides: 


“The decisions of the Council shall be arrived at by 
agreement between the two sides, shall be signed by 
the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, shall be reported to 
the Cabinet, and thereupon shall become operative.”?® 


Without this clause the staff organizations would not 
have consented to take part in the plan.*® But even with 
this clause, the powers of the Whitley councils have not 
proved very effective in the face of the administrative 
powers of the Treasury over the state departments and 
the authority of the permanent secretaries. These powers 
are guaranteed by a provision to the effect that the de- 
cisions of the Council shall be without prejudice to the 
overriding authority of Parliament and the responsibility 
of the minister.17 Yet there is a vital difference between 
the Whitley plan and the councils of the United States 
Post Office Department which, together with fundamental 
differences between the British and American civil services 
and between the state of development of employee associa- 
tions in the two countries, make comparison and prediction 
impossible. 

Employee councils have worked well in the United States 
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and though similar 
bodies gave satisfactory results at the government arsenal 
at Rock Island for a short time after their establishment, 
it is reported that they have since become ineffective. 


18 See Macrae-Gibson, J. H.: The Whitley System in the Civil Service (London: 
The Fabian Society, 1922). 

14Trade Unionism and Whitleyism in the Post Office,” pat Annual, 1921, 
pp. 68-70. See also Postal Advocate (Australia), January 12, 1922, %. 

15 See Report of the National Provisional Joint Committee on the Application 
of the Whitley Report to the Administrative Departments of the Civil Service, 
Par. 26 

16 Macrae-Gibson, work cited, p. 12. 

17 Post Annual, 1921, p. 68. See also Report of the Sub-Committee of the Inter- 
departmental Committee on the Application of the Whitley Report to the Admin- 
istrative Departments of the Civil Service, 1919, p. 2, Par. 9 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 253 


THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE COUNCILS 


During the brief period of their existence the postal 
councils have dealt with various administrative questions 
ranging from matters of routine and detail and individual 
grievances to a subject of such general administrative im- 
portance as the application of the principle of seniority in 
promotions. They have dealt with matters affecting the 
physical surroundings of the workers and have succeeded 
in having many minor causes of complaint adjusted, but 
have been unable to obtain relief where the reform involved 
the expenditure of money. In such cases the necessity for 
Congressional action has made it impossible for the De- 
partment to give relief. The fact that buildings and 
facilities fall under the control of the Treasury and not the 
Post Office Department has also complicated such mat- 
ters. Many improvements with which the councils are 
credited are really the result of years of agitation on the 
part of the workers. For instance, their most widely 
heralded physical improvement, the installation of rest 
bars for distributors, is a thing for which the clerks’ 
organizations had been asking for at least ten years. So 
far the National Council has taken no position in conflict 
with the will of the Department. 


THE CONFERENCE-CONVENTIONS 


Another change in the direction of greater cooperation 
between the rank and file and the administration was the 
inauguration of the conference-convention system by Post- 
master General Work. Dr. Work characterized this inno- 
vation as “probably the greatest single accomplishment 
of the Department” during the first eighteen months of 
President Harding’s administration.”+® These conference- 
conventions of postal employees meet in a centrally located 
city in each state of the Union. The gatherings are com- 
posed of delegates chosen by the employees in various 
postal centers of the state and such other employees as 
care to attend at their own expense. Necessary leaves of 
absence are granted to any such workers. Employee 
organizations have no official place in these gatherings. 

18 See ore States Official Postal Guide, November, 1922, 


6. 
18 Same, p. 5. On pages 5-7 the Postmaster General lists Hineteen “changes for 
the benefit of postal employees.” 


254 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


The Department is represented by the Postmaster General 
or some official designated by him. At first the various 
employee groups meet by themselves to transact such busi- 
ness as they have or to plan such action as they may wish 
to take at the later conference-convention itself, at which 
all the groups, including postmasters and other local postal 
officials, meet together with the Postmaster General or his 
representatives to discuss service problems. Large users of 
mail and mail-order houses have also been asked to have 
delegates present at these gatherings so that all points of 
view may be heard. 

The gatherings so far held have been successful at least 
in point of attendance and enthusiasm. At the first one, 
at Portland, Maine, which the Postmaster General and his 
assistants attended, one thousand employees out of two 
thousand in the state were present. As in the case of the 
employees’ councils, it is still too early to estimate the 
value of this innovation. It remains to be seen whether 
the conference-conventions will develop into really useful 
institutions, or whether they will become merely pleasant 
and harmless social gatherings, or perhaps turn into occa- 
sions which will serve the Department with opportunities 
for making political speeches and spreading its propa- 
ganda.?° 

Their chances of success would certainly be greater if 
the workers, as well as the departmental representatives, 
were given opportunities not merely to ask questions and 
take part in the discussion but to make formal speeches 
through representatives of their own choosing. The work- 
ers and large postal patrons would also have more confi- 
dence in the gatherings if they were held under the joint 
auspices of all three interested parties rather than of the 
Department alone. The presiding officer might be chosen 
from the delegates present, including the official represen- 
tatives, or the various interests represented might take turns 
at having one of their number preside. Lastly, the Depart- 

20 Reports of some recent gatherings point to such development. The Postmaster 
General has suspended conference-conventions for the presidential year of 1924 
‘in order to remove any possible cause for complaint that they may in any degree 
be involved in the political activities which will engage the attention of citizens 
generally.’’? (See Report of the Postmaster General, 1923, p. 9.) Although the 
announcement said that the conferences ‘‘may be resumed thereafter,’’ many em- 
ployee leaders believe that they will not be, and that the Department was glad of 


an opportunity to drop them because it found that the employees were asking too 
many troublesome questions. 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 255 


ment should not send inspectors to represent it. No matter 
what may be said of the inspectors as “the eyes and hands” 
of the executive, or as the “connecting :ink between the 
Department and the field,’ most of the workers do look 
upon them as the administration’s spies or as the Post- 
master General’s secret police. Their very presence is likely 
to put a damper on full and free discussion. 

Unquestionably the morale of the service has improved 
since March 4, 1921. But this improvement, which was 
more noticeable during Mr. Hays’ year in office than it has 
been since, must be credited to factors other than confer- 
ence-conventions and service relations work. Any relief 
from Burleson conditions would have been hailed with joy 
and could not have failed to have had a good effect upon 
the spirit of the force. The salary law of June 5, 1920, 
passed while Burleson was still in office, though far from 
adequate, did, nevertheless, relieve conditions to some 
extent. The situation was also improved by the Civil 
Service Retirement Act which was passed a few weeks 
before the salary measure. The removal of obstacles which 
had long been placed in the way of employee organizations 
at the Department also went a long way toward creating 
a more satisfactory temper in the service. 


ORGANIZATION SUSPICIONS OF HAYS’ PLANS 


Mr. Hays’ first announcement of his welfare policy was 
greeted with no little suspicion by some of the workers’ 
organizations. They were afraid that the councils were an 
attempt to “back fire” them; that the administration, hav- 
ing seen the failure of other régimes to kill them by force, 
was trying to kill them by kindness. They were uncertain 
as to whether the administration was sincere or whether 
it was merely adopting the well-known methods of “enlight- 
ened” employees who seek to rid their establishments of 
unionism through paternalistic “welfare work” and “com- 
pany unions.” 

Two things, however, served to allay such suspicions. 
In the first place, organizations were made the basis of 
representation in the National Council. In this way the 
national officers, whether in or out of the service, were given 
official recognition as the representatives of the employees. 
Although the local organizations were not made the unit 


256 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


of representation on local councils, they have for the most 
part succeeded in controlling the choice of delegates to these 
bodies. In the second place, the councils were not the only 
means through which the employees could reach the authori- 
ties. If they failed as effective channels of approach, the 
organizations could still deal directly with the administra- 
tion if they desired.?? 

Yet, despite the new policy, the official attitude towards 
the employees has not undergone very fundamental changes. 
There has been evidence to indicate that with Mr. Hays 
gone and with the edge of the first enthusiasm over “human- 
ization” dulled, the Department has been slipping back into 
old ways. Although this has been especially true since 
Mr. Hays’ retirement from office, there were also indica- 
tions of it during his incumbency. 


HAYS AND AFFILIATION WITH A. F. OF L. 


‘Hays was hardly more cordial to labor affiliation than 
his predecessors. He did not try to forbid it, or have it 
outlawed, or hamper the organizations which were members 
of the American Federation of Labor, but he did make it 
clear that he did not like such affiliation and hoped that 
his policy would make it unnecessary. At a conference with 
representatives of the U. N. A. P. O. C. he stated his posi- 
tion as follows: 


“We shall treat all alike but shall cooperate so 
closely together that there will be no need of affilia- 
tions. I propose to have the situation such that nobody 
has to have an outside organization to help them get 
attention from the Department. You will not need 
lia 


Mr. Hays spoke in a similar vein to the officers of the 
affiliated Railway Mail Association whose official organ 
reported that portion of the interview as follows:?° 


“While Mr. Hays expressed his purpose of human- 
izing the service and doing the right thing, he left no 


21 Mr. Hays told the convention of the National Association of Letter Carriers: 
“Paternalism is as obnoxious to me as it is to you.... I would build a welfare 
organization solely for the purpose of supplementing and encouraging the work of 
the employees.’’ Postal Record, October, 1921, p. 237. 

22 Leaflet issued by the United National Association of Post Office Clerks. 

% Railway Post Office, March, 1921, p. 8. 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 257 


doubt as to his attitude on ‘intemperate radicals and 
professional agitators.’ He desired specific information 
on the nature of our organization and as to whether it 
was controlled by an executive board of employees in 
the service. He expressed much satisfaction on learn- 
ing that such was the case, and that it had tried at all 
times to cooperate with the Department, in the interest 
of the public welfare, even under the most discouraging 
conditions. Mr. Hays stated that he was opposed to 
the aftiliation of postal organizations with ‘outside or- 
ganizations,’ but said that he realized that conditions 
in the past had been such as to almost force the move 
as one of self defense.” 


The representatives of the rural letter carriers associa- 
tion were told practically the same thing.?* 

The unaffiliated clerks’ association, reporting its officers’ 
first interview with the Postmaster General?> under the 
head, “Hays opposed to affiliations. Will end them dip- 
lomatically,” said: 


“The first question asked by Mr. Hays . . . was 
in regard to the nature of their organization and if they 
had any external labor affiliations. He seemed greatly 
relieved to know that we had the common sense to keep 
away from such influences. He said he wants to be 
fair to all but would not stand for strikes in the service 
or their interfering with the operations of the mails. 
It is his intention to end affiliations diplomatically, and 
when we look back over his record as an organizer and 
his ability to eliminate radical factions from anything 
he is handling we must admit he is going about things 
in the proper way to put an end to disturbing influences 
in the postal service.” 


THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE STILL DISCONTENTED 


But in spite of the administration’s “diplomacy,” there has 
been no trend away from the Federation of Labor. Its only 
noticeable effect was to give encouragement to the faction 
of railway postal clerks opposed to affiliation. They carried 
on so persistent an agitation in favor of the Railway Mail 


“FR. F, D. News, March 12, 1921. % Leaflet cited. 


258 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Association reconsidering the question that the national 
executive committee, at its meeting in June, 1922, ordered 
that the matter be put to a referendum. The result was 
favorable to affiliation by 7,131 votes to 3,830, a majority 
of almost two to one. Every one of the fifteen divisions 
voted in the affirmative.?° 

According to the Railway Post Office,27 the vote was as 
much an expression of dissatisfaction with working condi- 
tions in the service as an expression upon the direct proposi- 
tion of affiliation. It intimated that the result might, 
perhaps, have been different “had it been the policy and 
disposition of the Department to meet the Association upon 
a basis of genuine cooperation.” 

The principal reason for this dissatisfaction was that 
Burleson’s administrative policies had not been “‘completely 
reversed” in the railway mail service. The official attitude 
toward the employees had changed so that the workers 
were now “partners” instead of enemies of the republic, but 
the reductions and curtailments of the service with their 
consequent inconveniences and hardships to the clerks con- 
tinued as before. For this reason the administration’s wel- 
fare work and “humanizing” activities have had little effect 
upon railway postal clerks. Incidentally, the local service 
councils which are the heart of the welfare work are post 
office affairs. Though terminal railway postal clerks may 
take part in their work, the clerks on the road cannot. Thus 
such improved conditions and relations as these bodies may 
have brought about have in no way affected the men on the 
trains. 


RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE AGREEMENTS 


But under the postal organizations’ new dispensation, the 
Railway Mail Association took steps to make good this 
deficiency by establishing both national and local confer- 
ence machinery on its own initiative. At its suggestion, its 
national executive committee, the division superintendents, 
the General Superintendent of the railway mail service and 
the Second Assistant Postmaster General met together in 
a series of conferences and discussed a number of important 
administrative matters affecting the interests of the clerks 


26 Railway Post Office, October, 1922, pp. 11-12. 
27 October, 1922, p. 21. 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 259 


and the service. Papers presented by the association’s rep- 
resentatives, dealing with hours of service, seniority, pro- 
motions, service rating system, the construction of railway 
mail cars, etc., formed the basis of the discussions. <A joint 
subcommittee of the conference, consisting of three super- 
visory officials and three officers of the association, drew 
up formal agreements affecting hours of service, seniority, 
promotions and terminal and transfer service. These agree- 
ments were approved by the General Superintendent and the 
president of the Railway Mail Association and submitted to 
the Second Assistant in the form of recommendations. That 
officer had previously assured the joint conference that 
“such agreements as may be reached will be carried out 
faithfully by the Department.””® 
Particularly to see that the interests of the clerks were 
protected under the agreements and in general because it 
was felt that the time had arrived “when the Association 
must assume its share of responsibility for the improvement 
of service and working conditions,” a system of local service 
committees was established by the R. M. A.2® These com- 
mittees, according to the plan of the national executive 
committee, were to consist either of the president and sec- 
retary of local branches of the Railway Mail Association, 
or of three members of each branch especially elected for 
the work. The committees were to be “utilized to bring 
together in a practical way the local supervisory officials 
and the representatives of the employees to discuss the 
details of any service or working condition unsatisfactory 
to either the supervisory officials or the railway postal 
clerks.” They were to hold joint meetings with local offi- 
cials whenever “any change materially affecting the service 
or working conditions of the employees” was contemplated 
“in order to mutually discuss all details of proposed changes 
and to obtain all information available.” The committees 
were also to suggest any changes to the supervisors and to 
give them any information which they thought would im- 
prove the service or working conditions. 
The national conference and the resulting agreements, 
together with the local committee plan, made it look as 
28 Railway Post Office, May, 1921, p. 10. For a report of the joint conference, 
the texts of the conference papers submitted, and the texts of the agreements and 


recommendations of the subcommittee see also pp. 
2 See Plan for Service Committees, Railway Post Office, October, 1921, p. 13. 


260 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


though collective bargaining had been established to an 
extent hitherto unknown in the postal service. Certainly it 
seemed that the Railway Mail Association had received a 
greater degree of “official recognition” than the Department 
had ever before accorded a workers’ organization. The 
whole plan did indeed hold out great promise. The fact 
that it was initiated by the organization, and was not 
merely a supplementary activity officially started and spon- 
sored like the service relations councils, was in itself assur- 
ance of the fullest measure of employee support. 

But, although the agreements had been made by the two 
parties affected, they were not carried out under the super- 
vision of a joint committee, but by the Department alone. 
And this is where trouble began. Reports of the delegates 
to the national convention of the Association held in Sep- 
tember, 1921, showed that, though most officials were 
honestly attempting to carry out the agreements, the “hours 
of service” plan was not being fairly applied in all locali- 
ie To change this, the convention unanimously resolved 
that: 


“Inasmuch as the agreement entered into by the 
Department and the officials of the Railway Mail Asso- 
ciation is not being equitably applied in some divisions 
. . . we request that a uniform application of this 
agreement be made and that an organization within the 
minimum hours be approved, as provided for where any 
of the conditions stated obtain. . . .’% 


The Association’s insistent complaints regarding depart- 
mental interpretations drew the following from the Second 
Assistant: 


“And I must add that it is rather disconcerting to 
find that you feel that the provisions in Paragraph 5 
of our agreement are mandatory and that you are dis- 
posed to exact literal application of them regardless 
of the circumstances in connection with the runs 
affected.’’5+ 


In view of this official’s earlier pledge that the agreements 
would be “carried out faithfully by the Department,” this 
letter was not a little surprising. Following it there came 


280 Railway Post Office, September, 1921, pp. 8-9. 
81 Letter to Railway Mail Association officials, Sept. 9, 1921. 


= Se ae 


—— 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 261 


another interpretation which, according to President Collins 
of the Association, “nullified” the overtime provisions alto- 
gether.*? 


RAILWAY MAIL ASSOCIATION’S RELATIONS WITH OFFICIALS 
BECOME STRAINED 


Relations with the Department were becoming strained. 
The situation was hardly improved by the unwillingness of 
a number of field officials to cooperate with the organiza- 
tion through its local service committees. These officials 
had been trained in the schools of other administrations— 
many of them under Hitcheock and Burleson. Many, too, 
were men who had been prominent in Association affairs 
when the organization had had its “stand in” with the De- 
partment and had stepped from those affairs into their 
supervisory posts. They disapproved of the new leadership 
and policy of the Association and they did not like nego- 
tiating with organized subordinates. 

Another joint conference of the executive committee and 
service officials was held in July, 1922.°* No decision was 
reached regarding a number of most important questions 
agitating the service, including the overtime agreement. 
The new Second Assistant, who had been in office but a 
few months, wanted time to investigate the service. But 
when month after month went by with no action and no 
decision, the workers began to feel that the Department 
was not meeting them in a proper spirit and that it had 
actually rejected their efforts to cooperate with it. 


BURLESON RAILWAY MAIL POLICIES CONTINUE 


All this happened while Burleson’s service policies had 
been going on practically unchanged. Post office car mile- 
age was still being reduced. So also were the number of 
clerks on road assignments.’ According to figures issued 
by the Railway Mail Association based on data issued from 
the Department’s press room, the post office car mileage 
during the fiscal year 1922 was about ten million miles 
less than during 1921.*° 

These service curtailments and reorganizations resulted 

®2 Railway Post Office, October, 1922, pp. 11-12. 
83 Railway Post Office, July, 1922, pp. 7-18. 


%4 Same, March, 1922, p. 25. 
55 Same, August, 1922, p. 11. 


262 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


in the assignment of numbers of regular clerks to the 
so-called “surplus list.” The Department ruled that no 
clerk on this list who had not reached the maximum grade 
on his line would be promoted above the third grade 
($1,850). This, the Association held, was contrary to the 
law which did not create the grade of “surplus clerk” and 
provided for annual promotions.*® The curtailment of 
service was so drastic that one instance was reported of a 
man who had been on a regular assignment for thirty-two 
years being reduced to the status of substitute.*? 

This was the state of affairs in the railway mail service 
when the two-to-one vote was cast reendorsing affiliation 
with the A. F. of L. which the clerks’ organ interpreted as 
a rebuke to the Department for having refused to meet the 
Association ‘fon a basis of genuine cooperation.”*® 


THE PERMANENT OFFICIALS STILL CONTROL THE RAILWAY 
MAIL SERVICE 


The unsatisfactory state of affairs was due almost en- 
tirely to factors inherent in the existing organization of the 
service. It is a long way from the Department at Wash- 
ington to the offices of the field officials where the policies 
of the administration are carried out and often distorted. 
A change in departmental policy does not change the habits 
of action or the trend of mind of the local chiefs. Post- 
masters General may try as they will to “humanize the 
industry” and make the workers “partners in business,” 
but unless something be done to change the ways of the 
permanent officials, the administrative machine will go on 
working along in its old routine.*® 

The difficulty of the administration’s problem is illus- 
trated by the outcome of the efforts of the Second Assistant, 
Mr. Henderson, to adjust minor grievances and small irri- 
tations. Through his policy of making frequent trips on 

36 Same, p. 12. 

87 Union Postal Clerk, October, 1922, p. 21. 

88 Above, p. 258. i 

88 The Railway Mail Association has begun to agitate fo ra very comprehensive 
legislative program which will tend to limit the authority and discretionary powers 
of the administration. They are working, too, to have the basis of railway mail 
pay changed from space back to weight, so that the Department will not be so 
easily tempted to cut down service in order to keep down costs. The space system, 
they claim, is at the bottom not only of most of the ills of the clerks, but also 
of the inadequacy of the service. A bill has recently been introduced establishing 


a dual mile and hour basis for railway mail clerks. Railway Post Office, January, 
1923, pp. 5-6. 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 263 


the lines, himself, Mr. Henderson became convinced that 
many minor complaints, which were the causes of no little 
ill feeling, could easily be adjusted. He appointed a com- 
mittee of three with the right to travel the lines, and invited 
complaints of every description to be laid before it. Within 
a short time well over a thousand grievances were brought 
to the administration’s attention. According to the Service 
Relations Director, half of them were settled fully in accord 
with the wishes of the complainants and yet in proper 
accord with good management for the Department. The 
employees’ representatives, on the other hand, say that the 
committee has come to be completely dominated by the 
official point of view and has proved an ineffective agency 
for the adjustment of grievances.*° 


CLERKS’ FEDERATION PROTESTS VIOLATION OF EIGHT-HOUR 
LAW 


The employees of the railway mail service were not alone 
in their difficulties with the Department. The old con- 
troversy over the interpretation of the emergency clause 
of the “eight-in-ten-hour law” arose again in about the 
middle of 1922 and grew into an exchange of no little heat 
between the First Assistant, Mr. John H. Bartlett, and the 
National Federation of Post Office Clerks. 

The organization protested to the Postmaster General 
and the President that the eight-hour law was being ignored 
“by the imposition of daily overtime” in many large offices, 
notably Chicago, Brooklyn, Cleveland, and Indianapolis.* 

The Department defended its practice on the grounds 
that sufficient appropriations had not been made for substi- 
tute and auxiliary hire. At the same time it contended 
that it was of no financial advantage to the government to 
work clerks overtime, ‘because we have to pay more for 
the regular than the substitute? This the Federation 
denied, pointing out that the hourly rate for regular clerks, 
except those of the highest grade, was less than the sub- 
stitute rate and that, under the circumstances,—without 
punitive rates—there was a constant temptation to exact 
overtime of experienced employees.*® 

President Harding, after inquiry, sustained the union’s 


“Information through correspondence with the Service Relations Director and 
interviews with officers of the Railway Mail Association. 
41 Union Postal Clerk, July, 1922, pp. 34. “Same, pp. 5-6. “Same, p. 7. 


264 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


construction of the law, that overtime should be required 
only “under a very great emergency.” ‘Failure of Congress 
to provide reasonable funds for the performance of this 
work,” he said, “scarcely creates an emergency.”’** 

The Federation published the whole correspondence of 
the controversy in a pamphlet bearing the following: 


“For the Eight-hour Day. Chronological Record of 
the Federation’s Fight for Proper Observance of Postal 
Protective Law.” 


OFFICIAL PRESSURE USED TO CIRCULATE ATTACK ON FEDERATION 


First Assistant Bartlett took exception to this pamphlet 
and particularly to the cover “flash” which seemed to re- 
flect on the honesty of the Department in observing the 
law. He issued a lengthy statement in the Postal Bulle- 
tin*® which the Department made every effort to circulate. 
According to the Federation’s organ, clerks in New York 
and other places were compelled to sign for copies of the 
message.*® The statement addressed ‘‘to all post office 
clerks” sounded exceedingly like a voice of pre-““humaniza- 
tion” days. It warned against “‘propaganda and misinfor- 
mation” and twice called attention to the fact that the 
officers of the clerks’ Federation who had charged the De- 
partment with ignoring the law were not in the service and 
intimated that the organization was standing in the way of 
the “cooperation and mutual confidence” essential to the 
success of the service. 

To this the organization answered: 


“Tf we are wrong in our construction of the law, as 
you charge, then President Harding is likewise wrong. 
He has fully sustained our contention that postal over- 
time should be confined to emergent cases.’’4* 


In the midst of the controversy the Department barred 
bulletin boards in the employees’ “swing-rooms’” to all but 
officially approved matter.** This was interpreted as an 
effort to muzzle the Federation.*® Commenting on Mr. 

4 Same, 5. 45 July 18, 1922. 
46 Union Postal Clerk, August, 1922, p. 2. 
47 Union Postal Clerk, oeat, 1922, pp. 3-8 at p. 6. 


48 Postal Bulletin, June 21, 1922. 
49 Union Postal Clerk, October, 1922, p. 19; October, 1928, pp. 53-5. 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 265 


Bartlett’s words as to the need of confidence and coopera- 
tion, the Federation declared: 


“We have so much confidence in your desire to act 
fairly that we trust you will see fit to circulate this 
reply in the same manner as the original message or 
that you will at least modify your recent bulletin board 
sp i to permit it to be displayed on the clerks’ bulletin 

oards.” 


The upshot of the controversy was a modification of the 
overtime situation. Mr. Bartlett himself announced the 
change in an order over his signature.°° A few months 
later Mr. Bartlett tacitly admitted the truth of the Feder- 
ation’s charges. The Department, he said, had been “forced 
to violate the law.’’*? 


THE ADMINISTRATION’S RELIANCE ON INSPECTORS 


The policy of the administration to depend upon the 
inspectors to a far greater extent than any recent régime has 
practically guaranteed the continuance of the Department’s 
traditional attitude towards its employees. First Assistant 
Bartlett strongly approved this policy at the first Maine 
conference-convention, where he referred to the inspectors 
as the “eyes, ears, hands, and even the sympathetic heart 


of the Postmaster General. . . . Through them,” he said, 
“he sees you, helps you, and backs you so long as you are 
in proper relation to him. . . .”5? Of course, the em- 


ployees who had spent their lives in the service knew much 
more about the inspectors than the political heads of the 
administration who had been in office but a few months, 
and they rather suspected that the men who had broken up 
unions under Hitchcock would be likely to continue their 
accustomed activities. 

A constructive personnel policy, together with a reorgan- 
ization of the inspection branch, might in time change the 
spying, critical and fault-finding attitude which the inspec- 
tors, with few exceptions, have maintained towards the 
staff. But the present administration policy of leaning very 
heavily on the inspection force trained in pre-“humaniza- 
tion” days is likely to insure the continuation of the Depart- 


5° Nov. 29, 1922. 
61 Hearings: Subcommittee of House Committee on Appropriations, Feb. 16, 1928. 
52 Union Postal Clerk, October, 1922, p. 19. 


‘266 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


ment’s old labor attitude, despite the attempts of the Service 
Relations Division to the contrary. The Department’s reli- 
ance on the inspection branch has been the cause of no 
little complaint from many quarters. It even resulted in 
demands for an investigation to determine to what extent 
these agents were “‘running the service.” 

Both the National Association of Letter Carriers and 
the National Federation of Post Office Clerks have made 
constructive suggestions for the reorganization of the inspec- 
tion service. The carriers have urged that “a competent 
staff of trained management engineers” replace ‘mere 
inspectors.’”’>* The clerks have suggested that the work of 
crime detection and accounting be assigned respectively to 
the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Accounts, 
and that inspectors, freed from these duties and assigned 
solely to personnel work, be made responsible to the Na- 
tional Service Relations Council. “In this way,” the sug- 
gestion ran, “the representative of the employees will be 
in a position to occasionally review the judgment of an 
inspector.’’>4 


THE POSTMASTER AND THE CLERKS’ UNION AT MINNEAPOLIS 


There was one office in the country where even before 
the coming of “humanization” genuine cooperation had 
been established between the local administration and the 
working force. This was the post office at Minneapolis 
under the direction of Postmaster Edward A. Purdy. Mr. 
Purdy had recognized and cooperated closely with the local 
employee organizations and with their help he had suc- 
ceeded in making his office a model of efficiency and good 
spirit. Even during the Burleson administration, working 
conditions at Minneapolis had been excellent and the place 
had become known as the “postal employees’ paradise.” 

When Mr. Hays became Postmaster General, he at once 
saw the value of Mr. Purdy’s work. He spoke of him as a 
“bird of a postmaster” and as an official with a “batting 
average of 1,000 even though a Democrat.” Hays not only 
retained Purdy at his post, but he called upon him to super- 
vise the reorganization of other large offices along Minne- 

58 Beyer, Otto 8., and Soule, George: Supervision of the City Delivery Service 
(Prepared for the National Association of Letter Carriers by the Labor Bureau, 


Inc., May 26, 1923). 
64 See National Federation of Post Office Clerks: Reports of Officers, 1923, p. 70. 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 267 


apolis lines. Shortly after Hays’ retirement from the 
Cabinet, Postmaster Purdy resigned and his place was 
taken by Arch Coleman, a Republican politician of some 
local prominence and power. 

Not long after this a controversy arose between the local 
Post Office Clerks’ Union and the Coleman administration 
which resulted in the discharge from the service of several 
union officers. The immediate cause of the quarrel was 
the adoption by the Minneapolis Trades and Labor Assem- 
dly of a resolution condemning President Harding and 
Governor Preus of Minnesota for their alleged hostile atti- 
tude toward labor in the railway shopmen’s strike then in 
progress. The clause of the resolution which started the 
trouble read: 


“Whereas, public utterances of men in public offices 
from President Harding down to the local office boy of 
the corporations—Governor Preus—have shown their 
hatred of the Labor Movement, and their desire for 
victory for the enemies of Labor . . . etc.’ 


The president of the clerks’ local union had been elected 
president of the Trades and Labor Assembly the night this 
resolution was passed. The day after the meeting this 
employee was charged with “conduct highly improper for 
an employee of the United States Government’’®® and was 
discharged from the service a month later. His discharge 
was interpreted as an attack on the local Post Office Clerks’ 
Union,*” while a subsequent investigation of the case by 
the inspectors, which resulted in more dismissals, was fur- 
ther condemned in the same way as well as an effort to 
discredit the Purdy administration.*®® 

The whole struggle seems to have had its roots in local 
politics.°® Subsequent activities by the postal inspectors, 
however, have provided the authorities with good grounds 
on which to justify some of the dismissals and to declare 
that the Minneapolis affair was not a “labor case.” 


5 Adopted by Minneapolis Trades and Labor mand July 12, 1922. 
5 Minnesota Daily Star (Minneapolis), July 27, 1922 
57 Minnesota Daily Star (Minneapolis), August 14, 1922. 
: 53 Report by Committee of Minneapolis Trades and Labor Assembly: In Regard 
to Post Office Inspectors Furness and Shafell Investigation of the Case of Dismissal 
of George N. Meyers from Postal Service in Minneapolis. 
58 Minnesota Daily Star (Minneapolis), July 28, August 2 and 5, 1922. 


268 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


THE CHIEF OBSTACLES TO A CONSTRUCTIVE PERSONNEL POLICY: 
“POLITICS” AND THE BUREAUCRACY 


Whether or not the local postal authorities were able to 
find an adequate basis of justification for bringing about 
the discharge of certain employees who had been active in 
the local organization is not the important feature in the 
Minneapolis case. The whole affair was local in character 
and not part of an administration drive against employee 
organization as were Mr. Burleson’s Chicago dismissals. 
The national administration acted on the advice of the 
local postmaster. The indications are that the local post- 
master was appointed for political reasons and was not 
uninfluenced in his actions by political considerations. Of 
course there is nothing unusual about this in the American 
government service and few were so naive as to expect to 
see the policy of “humanization” change the situation to any 
ereat extent. Yet so long as politics continues to remain a 
factor of primary importance in the postal service construc- 
tive personnel policies like Mr. Purdy’s will be upset to 
meet its needs, and efforts at “humanization” will not be of 
very great value. 

Nor can such attempts be very successful if the perma- 
nent supervisory officials are allowed to go on directing 
things in their old way. It is these officers, rather than 
the heads of the administration, who carry on the actual 
management of the service. Mr. Hays left office before 
he could really bring the supervisors into line behind his 
announced plans. His successors as heads of the Depart- 
ment, Dr. Hubert Work and Mr. Harry 8. New, have been 
placing less and less emphasis on “humanization” and have 
shown little disposition to upset the established way of 
doing things. 

Many of the chiefs, taking their cues from Washington, 
have begun to lose interest in the service relation work. 
In addition, the increased volume of mail unaccompanied 
by adequate increases in personnel have led to the intro- 
duction of drastic “speed up” and efficiency schemes, which 
have caused sharp eomplaint from the foree®® and have led 
many employees to declare “humanization” a mockery. 


© See Union Postal Clerk, November, 1923, p. 59. Also the carriers’ statement 
cited above: Supervision of the City Delivery Service, for constructive sugges- 
tions looking towards an efficiency system to be administered under the joint 
supervision of the carriers and the officials, 


“HUMANIZING” THE POSTAL INDUSTRY 269 


Still, the active hostility towards employee organizations 
which characterized the postal administrations of other 
years is no longer present. Although the change of heart 
has not been complete, the situation in this respect is 


unquestionably an improvement over that of a few years 
ago. 


CHAPTER XVI 
THE METHODS OF POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS 


Postal organizations have sought the attainment of their 
objects by direct dealing with the administrative chiefs and 
by bringing pressure to bear on Congress. Where the former 
method was unsuccessful or inadequate to the remedy 
sought, they have turned to the latter. _The principal 
methods by which they have sought to influence legislation 
have been first, by lobbying and by presenting their cases 
to the Congressional committee of proper jurisdiction; sec- 
ond, by agitation and publicity through advertising condi- 
tions in the local press and through the organization of mass 
meetings; third, and seldom, by using their organized polit- 
ical power at the polls; and fourth, a method becoming less 
and less frequent, by playing politics “back home.” 


PUBLICITY AND LOBBYING 


Publicity and direct dealing with Congress have been the 
methods which have proved most successful. Though the 
associations had long tried to work with and through the 
Department and to influence the legislature in their behalf 
through a sympathetic executive, the method has not been 
satisfactory. The development of the postal labor move- 
ment has shown a definite trend away from such indirection. 


“PLAYING POLITICS” 


Although the method of “playing politics” has been gen- 
erally abandoned, it is still practiced to an extent by rural 
carriers. It is also practiced quite extensively and inten- 
sively in New York and, to a somewhat lesser extent, in 
Philadelphia and Boston with anything but good effect 
upon the service. The employees in these cities visit polit- 
ical clubs. They become acquainted with the local leaders 

1 See Report of Secretary Flaherty of Clerks’ Federation: ‘What Methods Shall 
We Follow?” Union Postal Clerk, October, 1919, pp. 213-214. 
270 


METHODS OF POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS 271 


and when they have wants, they let them be heard. When 
a national employee organization has a legislative pro- 
gram, the leaders of the local branches “work” the local 
political chiefs. The Democratic employees “work” the 
Democratic bosses, while the Republicans “work” the Re- 
publican bosses. So, it is felt, matters get to the attention 
of Congressmen with recommendations which carry weight. 
The Congressional vote in many districts of New York 
and Boston is often surprisingly close. Pluralities of 2,000 
or less are not infrequent and districts often contain a suffi- 
cient number of civil service employees together with their 
families and friends to swing the result one way or the 
other under such circumstances. 

The rural carriers are reputed to be the employees with 
greatest political influence. The individual city carrier, 
who serves a far larger number of families, is also capable 
of exercising a degree of political influence which politicians 
would not find convenient to ignore. A well-known Tam- 
many leader was once quoted as saying, ‘Give me the letter 
carriers of my district and my opponent can have all the 
other organizations on his side—churches, labor organiza- 
tions, schools, civic bodies, and chambers of commerce.”’® 
The increase in the number of apartment houses and flats, 
and perhaps, even an increased respect for civil service 
rules, have made the letter carriers less influential politi- 
cally than they had once been.? 


THE USE OF ORGANIZED VOTING POWER 


There are but a few cases on record of postal workers 
actually setting out to defeat their Congressional enemies 
through their organized voting power. Civil service restric- 
tions on political activity have made organized efforts at the 
polls difficult. Besides, Congressmen who have offended the 
postal workers do not always happen to come from districts 
where the position of these workers is of particular strategic 
importance in politics. Then, too, the issue is not always 
clear cut, and it is often impossible to get the support of 
other organized interests whose aid is usually necessary to 


2 Above, p. 104. 

*New York Evening Post, March 8, 1924. : 

4No doubt the politician quoted exaggerated the postmen’s influence. He seems 
to have forgotten that in addition to the support of the letter carriers he had 
the support of Tammany Hall. 


272 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


success at the polls. On the whole, the difficulty of postal 
employees has not been Congressional hostility, but Con- 
gressional lack of interest. Actual hostility toward em- 
ployee desires has come rather from the executive. Insofar 
as this branch of the government is concerned the political 
strength of postal workers, m spite of their numbers, is 
hardly formidable, for they are scattered thinly over the 
length and breadth of the country. 

The Knights of Labor carriers were very active politically 
when the first eight-hour law was before Congress. The 
support promised to the bill’s supporters by the postmen 
and the Knights generally and the threat of opposition 
against those who did not favor the measure went a iong 
way towards insuring its passage.® 

There was a special Congressional election in New York 
City in 1894. The Democratic candidate, William L. 
Brown, promised to work for Sunday delivery of mail. This 
brought the postal clerks and carriers flocking to the sup- 
port of the Republican, Mr. Lemuel Ely Quigg. Employees 
from all parts of the city were active in the campaign and 
they received no little assistance from the municipal work- 
ers, especially from the fire fighters. The city employees 
realized that the help of federal workers might be useful 
in local political contests where the former’s interests were 
involved. The firemen, postal clerks and carriers between 
them had watchers in every election district to assure a fair 
count for Quigg who was elected by a plurality of but 949 
votes.® Since the district had previously been Democratic 
by a wide margin, the activity of the civil service workers 
was evidently responsible for the result. 

Some years later, in 1901, the organized police, fire fight- 
ers and letter carriers in New York City combined to defeat 
the chairmen of two committees of the State Legislature 
who had stood in the way of salary increases for the local 
workers.” The postmen gave their support not only in 
exchange for the help they had received before, but because 
they felt that they would need the assistance of the munici- 
pal workers in the coming Congressional elections. Postal 
workers were then working for a re-classification act which 
was having rough sledding at Washington. 


5 Above, p. 66. 
6 Congressional Directory, December, 1894, 0. 
7See Civil Service Chronicle (New York), jy 20, 1913. 


METHODS OF POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS 273 


The part which the clerks and carriers played in bring- 
ing about the defeat of Representative Loud of California 
in the elections of 1902 has already been related. Loud, 
it will be remembered, had blocked a re-classification law 
with an automatic promotion feature on the grounds that 
it was a disguised ‘‘compulsory promotion law.” 

William §8. Cowherd of Missouri, a supporter of Loud 
in Congress, had been prominent in the opposition to clerk 
and carrier measures. He was defeated by Edgar C. Ellis 
in a very close race in the elections of 1904.° Ellis had 
active employee support which is said to have turned the 
tide in his favor. 

Jesse Overstreet, Republican, of Indiana, who was Chair- 
man of the House Post Office Committee and a strong sup- 
porter of the “gag” rule, attributed his defeat in 1908 to 
the employee opposition.1° While it is true that he was 
opposed by the postal workers, his party that year was 
defeated almost everywhere in the state. Indiana’s dele- 
gation in the 60th Congress had consisted of eight Repub- 
licans and five Democrats. In the 61st, it consisted of three 
Republicans and ten Democrats. Following the election 
of 1904, Overstreet also charged that postal employees, 
especially rural carriers, had tried to defeat him." 

The most recent instance of the defeat of a member of 
Congress by employees’ influence was the case of Represen- 
tative Borland of Missouri. The Borland campaign was 
primarily of concern to federal employees in the District of 
Columbia. Borland had aroused these workers by sponsor- 
ing a bill to increase their hours without increasing their 
pay. it is generally conceded that Borland was defeated 
in the 1918 primaries by the votes of federal employees, 
railroad workers then under federal control and the central 
labor body of Kansas City, Missouri. Prominent leaders 
of the organized postal workers took a very active part in 
the campaign.'* 

There are a number of other instances in which the postal 
workers were active in Congressional campaigns. There 
are two outstanding instances in which they used their votes 


8 Above 99. 

9 23, 873. Fis to 22,912.—Congressional eee { December, 1906, p. 65. 
10 House Hearings on Lloyd Bill (1911- es p. 147. 

U See R. F. D. News, January, 1905, p. 3. 

12 Federal Employee, September, 1918, eae 865-6, 872-5. 


274 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


to elect their friends. The first is the case of Carl Van 
Dyke of Minnesota, leader of the railway mail clerks of the 
tenth division during the trouble of 1910-11,1° who was 
elected to Congress in 1914. The second is the case of John 
J. Gorman of Illinois who had served both.as a clerk and 
carrier and had been prominent. in the affairs of the latter 
organization. Gorman was elected to Congress in 1920 
with active employee support, but in spite of this same 
support, he was defeated in 1922 by a very small majority. 
Postal employee leaders have also been active in supporting 
or opposing candidates who were endorsed or opposed by 
the general labor movement. 

These are the principal instances of postal workers using 
their votes to defeat their enemies at the polls, or to elect 
their friends. The cases are few and the results of such 
activity are insignificant as compared with the use of pub- 
licity and direct dealings with Congress. 


POSTAL WORKERS HAVE NEVER REALLY STRUCK 


Postal workers have always adhered to what the English 
call “constitutional methods.” There has never been a real 
strike in the U. S. Postal Service. There has been some 
strike talk, here and there. There have been stoppages of 
work by small groups and serious threats and near mutinies 
as in the railway mail service in 1911. Yet no group has 
ever struck to force a course of action upon Congress or the 
Department. 

One of the most significant of such “strike” episodes, the 
Tracy-Pierre “strike,” has already been told in some de- 
tail.* An account of the threatened “bloc resignations” 
and strike plans in the northwest which ended with the 
formation of the Brotherhood of Railway Postal Clerks has 
also been given.** Mention has likewise been made of the 
situation in the Chicago post office around 1900, when the 
75 men, refusing to work any longer after a 14- hour stretch, 
rang the “Bundy clock” and quit.'® 


THE ‘FAIRMONT STRIKE” 


In November, 1915, a serious labor trouble occurred in 
the post office at Fairmont, West Virginia. The affair, 
usually referred to as the “Fairmont strike,” set up a prec- 

13 Above, pp. 160-1. 14 Above, pp. 148-5. 15 Above, pp. 145-8. 18 Above, p. 93. 


METHODS OF POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS 275 


edent which, if it is allowed to stand, may yet prove a 
matter of tremendous import to all federal employees. 

Three employees of the Fairmont office, W. H. Brand, the 
assistant postmaster; P. D. Burton, clerk in charge of a 
station, and George P. Cochran, a letter carrier, were dis- 
missed by Postmaster Charles E. Manley without apparent 
cause or reason. Manley, according to the statements of 
other employees, had threatened similar action all along 
the line and it was the general opinion of the force that he 
was discourteous, inconsiderate and thoroughly incompe- 
tent.27 Out of protest against what they deemed the unwar- 
ranted discharge of their three colleagues, and because 
they felt they could no longer continue to work under Mr. 
Manley and maintain their self-respect, the twenty-five re- 
maining employees, carriers, clerks and supervisors handed 
in their resignations in concert. Each worker wrote and 
signed his own resignation. Throughout their letters there 
ran not only a current of dissatisfaction and disgust with 
the administration of the postmaster, but also a decided 
lack of faith in the efficacy of the civil service system to 
protect them. One man said: “I do not feel that the civil 
service gives any protection to my position.” Another: 
“The civil service affords no protection to the post office 
clerk whatever.” <A third: “I believe that the civil service 
of the United States no longer protects me.”’® 

Of course, it was clear from the similarity of the letters 
that the force had met and decided on its course of action. 
It has been generally admitted, too, that the discharged 
workers, especially Assistant Postmaster Brand, urged the 
men to act as they had. Nevertheless, it was an unusual 
action for postal workers to take, one to which they prob- 
ably could not have been aroused unless the circumstances 
had been particularly aggravating.’ 

The men who resigned were by no means a group of im- 
petuous youngsters new to the postal service. Four of them 
had been in the post office for seventeen years, three of 
them thirteen years, and only eight for less than three 
years.”° 


7 ae of House Committee on Reform in the Civil Service, April 7, 1916, 
pp. . 

18 Same, for texts of the letters of resignation. 

19 Same, p. 28. 

2 Same, pp. 33-34. 


276 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


The Fairmont post office, left without help and unable 
to do business, was obliged to close its doors. 

The twenty-five men, along with the former postmaster, 
A. H. Fleming, and two of the three men whom Manley had 
dismissed, Brand and Burton, were arrested and taken to 
Parkersburg, West Virginia, where the Federal Grand Jury 
indicted them for conspiracy to obstruct the mails. 

The organizations to which these men belonged, the 
National Association of Letter Carriers and the United 
National Association of Post Office Clerks, did nothing to 
help them. The Carriers’ Association, though it did look 
into the matter unofficially, took no formal steps on the 
grounds that the action of the Fairmont employees was 
one of which it did not approve and which had been taken 
without previous communication with or advice from the 
national officers. The attitude was much the same as that 
which most of the craft internationals would take in the 
case of an “outlaw” strike. The Harpoon, however, on 
hearing of the situation, at once set out to raise a defense 
fund.?+ A little later Secretary Flaherty of the Federated 
Clerks went to West Virginia at the request of the American 
Federation of Labor to be of such service as he could. 

But before anything could be done, the case was settled 
by a compromise between the U. S. attorney and the coun- 
sel for the men. A plea of nolo contendere was entered 
by the “conspirators” and fines ranging from $5 to $500 
were imposed as per a list drawn by the two parties. The 
judge, in imposing the fines, announced, as the district 
attorney had advised, that the men were merely technically 
guilty of violating the law, that he knew they had intended 
no wrong and that morally they were absolved of all 
blame.22. The U. S. attorney allowed very liberal terms for 
the payment of the fines.2? Thus the government, without 
trouble, established the precedent it had wanted to make 
and the men got off on fairly easy terms. 

The Parkersburg West Virginian reported that many of 
the men “expressed themselves to the effect that they had 
to submit to the compromise or continue the ordeal of being 
‘worn down’ by the government, which has abundance of 

21 Harpoon, Nos. 74 and 75, December 28, 1915; January 28, 1916. 


22Same, No. 75. an 
23 Parkersburg West Virginian, January 20, 1916. 


METHODS OF POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS 277 


money and determination to fight the case, while the post 
office men had no money to fight.” 

“Nolo contendere, or bankruptcy and defeat by circum- 
stances against which they could not cope on equal terms 
with the government, was their only alternative.’’** Besides, 
the defendants were denied the right to enter separate pleas, 
so that anyone who refused to adhere to the agreement would 
thereby have made himself responsible for the prosecution 
of his fellows. One of the employees, W. H. Fisher, a 
carrier, broke down under the strain and committed suicide 
on the eve of the trial. 

The government was allowed to establish the precedent, 
with all its implications,?®> without protest from the Clerks’ 
and Carriers’ Associations. According to President Gom- 
pers of the A. F. of L., if the court’s ruling were allowed 
to stand, it would mean that “enlistment obtains for civil 
service employees—that they are subject to a rigid disci- 
pline for service and for compulsory authority to enforce 
compulsory service or go to prison.’”*® 


STRIKE TALK 1910-11, 1919-20 


Aside from the actions of the railway mail elerks in the 
northwest at the time of the Hitchcock “take-up-the-slack” 
orders, the only time that postal workers seriously consid- 
ered striking or resigning in a body was in 1919, when the 
procrastination of the Joint Salary Commission was making 
it look as though nothing short of a strike would awaken 
the public to a realization of postal labor conditions.*7 The 
employees at Sioux City, Iowa, announced that they would 
resign in a body if relief were not forthcoming, and were 
prevented from carrying out their threat only by the inter- 
vention of organization officials. The Clerks’ Union at 
Chicago, at a regular meeting, seriously considered a “mass 
resignation.” It inquired into the methods by which such 
action could be taken.?® 

There was so much strike talk at this time*® that the 
national officers of the Clerks’ Federation took cognizance 


24 


e. 
25 American Federationist, February, 1916, pp. 123-4; April, 1916, pp. 285-7. 
2% Same, February, 1916, p. 124. 

27 Above, p. 203. 

28 Civil Service News (Chicago), August 14, 1919, p. 7. 

29 See Hearings: House Committee on Expenditures in Post Office Department, 
August 26, 1919, pp. 4, 17. 


278 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


of it at their 1919 convention. Secretary Flaherty discussed 
the issue as follows: 


“Strikes are a last resort. Should the time come—and. 
IT hope it will not—when we exert the limit of our legis- 
lative resources in seeking legislative relief and fail 
to gain our just ends, then a strike would be justifiable. 
I can conceive of circumstances when to refrain from 
striking would be cowardly. There are far worse things 
than a strike. One is supine submission to injustice. 
I have no patience with those who say that postal 
employees cannot strike. There is a constitutional 
inhibition against involuntary servitude.’’®° 


Mr. Flaherty then went on to say that the employees had 
not yet exhausted their resources in seeking legislative relief, 
that the strike was no short cut to the “postal millenium.” 


He outlined a program of education, agitation, and “pitiless 
publicity.’’*4 


THE FEDERATION’S STRIKE REFERENDUM 


When the National Federation of Post Office Clerks was 
formed, its constitution was silent on the strike question.*? 
In fact, the question of a postal strike was not seriously 
raised until the railway mail trouble during the Hitchcock 
régime. In 1911 the national convention yielded to popular 
and official prejudice and passed a “no strike” resolution 
which has been part of its constitution ever since. 

In 1919 the question of eliminating this expression came 
up in the national convention. The majority of the com- 
mittee on constitution and by-laws recommended elimina- 
tion, and the trend of the discussion seemed to indicate 
that the majority of the delegates favored the proposition.** 
However, a motion by Secretary Flaherty that the matter 
be submitted to the membership within one month from 
the convention’s adjournment was adopted in lieu of the 
committee’s report.** 

One month, as Mr. Flaherty no doubt knew, was a rather 
short time in which to set a referendum on so important a 
matter in motion. The vote was exceedingly light and, 

20 Union Postal Clerk, October, 1919, p. 213. 
“1 Same, pp. 213-14 82 Above, p. 112. 


83 Union Postal Clerk, October, 1919, p. 144 ff. 
%4 Same, pp. 150. 


METHODS OF POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS 279 


although a majority voted in favor of the proposition, 
the vote fell short of the necessary two-thirds and the ‘‘no 
strike” clause remained in the union’s constitution. The 
vote stood 4,494 yes and 3,419 no.*® The Union Postal 
Clerk admitted that “it was impossible to get a full expres- 
sion from the members in the short time permitted” and 
that “there was not sufficient opportunity for a discussion 
of the merits of the proposition.”*® 

It is interesting that Mr. Gompers, who was in the hall 
during part of the discussion prior to addressing the conven- 
tion, began the body of his address saying: 


“T did not get the full meaning, in fact I hardly 
understood anything of the action taken by your con- 
vention, and I am here not to criticize it or to say any- 
thing in connection with it. There is one thing I want 
to say, however, and thatisthat . . . at this moment 
in the life of organized labor it is well for us to exercise 
the most extreme care.’’*7 


The crisis of 1919-20 passed without resort to the extreme 
measures, but the story of the period makes one wonder 
whether in a similar situation the leaders would be as 
successful in holding the rank and file in check. 

% Same, November, 1919, p. 22. 
% Same. 
37 Same, October, 1919, p. 152. 


Cuapter XVII 


THE PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION 
AMONG POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS 


QUESTIONS OF MOMENT TO ALL FEDERAL EMPLOYEES 


Many of the fundamental questions which have agitated 
postal workers in the past have been of concern not to 
them alone but to the whole federal civil service. Inevitably 
such common problems have brought the various organiza- 
tions into close cooperation. Government employee trade 
unionists of all classes have been called upon to present a 
united front in defense of their right to organize, and it was 
only through such combined effort that a retirement law 
was finally achieved after more than twenty years of unsuc- 
cessful agitation. A board of review to check the absolute 
power of the employing departments to remove or demote 
workers, a liberalization of the restrictions on political 
activity and more adequate retirement provisions are a few 
of the matters which concern the whole service today, and 
there are many other matters such as the removal of restric- 
tions on their industrial rights, the extension and strength- 
ening of the merit system and the demand for a voice in 
the determination of working conditions which must in time 
call forth the active cooperation of all federal employee 
eTroups. 


THE RETIREMENT QUESTION: THE BEGINNINGS OF THE 
AGITATION 


The matter which above all others aroused the active 
interest of all civil service workers was the question of the 
retirement of the superannuated employee. Agitation for a 
retirement system began, at least formally, with a resolu- 
tion by the national convention of the National Association 
of Letter Carriers in the later 1890’s. More active agitation 
began in 1900 with the formation of the United States 
Civil Service Retirement Association. This organization 

280 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION) 281 


for several years after its formation was composed almost 
entirely of clerks in the executive departments in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. It was officered and controlled altogether 
by such employees and it attracted no membership outside 
of the District. From 1900 to 1907 the Association devoted 
itself largely to the study of retirement systems in opera- 
tion. Although it succeeded in interesting some Congress- 
men in the superannuation problem, no legislative progress 
was made. 

In 1907 President Roosevelt’s “Keep Commission,” ap- 
pointed to investigate departmental methods, reported in 
favor of a contributory retirement plan. Its recommenda- 
tions were subsequently put in the form of a bill and intro- 
duced in Congress early in 1908. This set the ball rolling. 
Employee organizations which had shown little interest in 
the question beyond the passage of resolutions, now became 
more actively concerned. The Retirement Association 
commenced a membership campaign and made special 
efforts to attract adherents and organize branches outside 
of Washington. 

During the year several other retirement measures came 
before Congress, each one having its employee backers 
and supporters. In May, 1909, the Retirement Association 
held its tenth annual meeting at the capital. For the first 
time delegates from many cities attended. Their discus- 
sion showed that although everyone favored some sort of 
retirement system, there was not even an approach toward 
agreement on any plan, measure, or even principle. In the 
months immediately following, this disagreement became 
even more marked, so that in October, 1909, the Associa- 
tion’s executive committee announced that the organization 
would decline to approve any particular bill or type of bill 
and instead devoted its undivided energies to creating a 
sentiment favorable to the “idea of retirement.’t At the 
same time it called for a general conference at Washington 
of representatives of all branches of the service. 


CONTRIBUTORY RETIREMENT VS. CIVIL PENSION 


But instead of opening the way for cooperation, the 
announcement of this new policy opened a breach in the 
ranks of the Retirement Association. A group led by the 

1 Postal Record, November, 1909, p. 338. 


282 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


secretary, Dr. Llewellyn Jordan, favored a contributory 
retirement plan under which part of the costs would be 
borne by the government and part by the employees through 
deductions from their salaries. A second group led by the 
president, Mr. M. F. O’Donoghue, favored a civil pension 
to be paid for entirely by the government. 

President Taft favored the contributry plan, which was 
subsequently endorsed by his Commission on Efficiency 
and Economy. Many progressive employees supported it 
because they felt that a “straight pension” might tie them 
too closely to their employer and hamper them in their 
efforts for remedial measures. However, the majority of 
the workers stood for a civil pension.?, The Letter Carriers’ 
Association was the most active sponsor of this plan. 

The carriers and several other groups conceded the advis- 
ability of working through the Retirement Association as 
a central agency since the question concerned the entire 
civil service. Yet they were wary about recommending the 
Association to their constituents until its constitution had 
been changed so as to give adequate representation on the 
executive board to all employee groups. 

The conference of representatives of all branches of the 
service called by the Retirement Association met in Wash- 
ington during the middle of January, 1910. A committee 
designated to hear the sponsors of various measures reported 
overwhelmingly in favor of a civil pension. The “gag” rule 
was temporarily modified by President Taft so that the 
delegates to the conference could appear before Congres- 
sional committees and give the legislators the benefit of 
their advice on the superannuation question. 

Unfortunately for the employees, the conference broke 
up ina row. The Association’s constitution and rules were 
radically revised. Mr. Cantwell, national secretary of the 
Letter Carriers’ Association, was elected secretary in place 
of Dr. Jordan and a new board of directors was chosen. 
Dr. Jordan claimed that the whole procedure was illegal 
and that he was still the rightful secretary. The gathering, 
he contended, was a conference to iron out differences of 
opinion on the retirement question and not a regular con- 
vention of the Association. He advised the post office that 
all mail addressed to the secretary should be delivered to 


2Same, January, 1910, p. 27. 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION 283 


him. The postmaster referred the matter to the Attorney 
General, who held that Cantwell had been duly elected.® 
The result of the controversy was a split in the Association’s 
ranks and the existence for more than two years of two 
bodies, each calling itself by the same name and each claim- 
ing to be the legal retirement organization. 


THE CIVIL PENSION GROUPS FORM RIVAL RETIREMENT 
ASSOCIATION 


The progress of the legislative campaign stood still while 
the leaders of the rival bodies fought out libel suits and 
actions for the possession of Association funds, furniture, 
and other property. Finally, on June 28, 1912, a decree 
by the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia decided 
in favor of the Jordan group. This placed the United 
States Civil Service Retirement Association in control of 
the faction favoring the contributory plan. The civil pen- 
sion party thereupon withdrew its support from the organi- 
zation and formed the National Association of Civil Service 
Employees at a convention in Washington early in the 
spring of 1913.4 

Although the straight pension plan was endorsed by all 
of the postal associations except the Clerks’ Federation,® 
the new organization was largely the creation of the letter 
earriers. With their support withdrawn the Association 
would have gone to pieces. The two rival bodies kept up 
their agitation for four years with no legislative results. 
Time and again the regular postal associations tried to make 
retirement a “paramount issue,” but other matters more 
immediate and pressing would interfere. In 1915 Mr. 
Burleson brought the question into the limelight by dis- 
charging superannuated employees. Still the inability of the 
workers to agree on a retirement plan prevented legislation. 

At length, in 1916, the older retirement organization went 
on record as favoring “any reasonable measure” which 


8 Civil tial Advocate (organ of the U. S. Civil Service Retirement Association), 
March, 1910, 

* Postal ee red May, 1913, 121. 

’ The Federation shared the pititude of the trade union movement towards the 
disadvantages of the straight pension. It felt that it would be likely to tie the 
workers to their employer and limit their freedom of action, while a contributory 
pension, on the other hand, would give them an equitable claim upon the retire- 
ment fund and so, in a measure, guarantee their independence. All groups 
admitted that the existing wage scale was inadequate to permit deductions for 
the pension fund. The conservative associations met the situation by demanding 
a straight pension, while the unionized clerks met it by demanding increased pay. 


284 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Congress would enact. The next year the convention of 
the National Association of Letter Carriers adopted a reso- 
lution to the same effect.?. This change of policy on the 
part of the carriers was prompted by the realization that 
some sort of retirement law was absolutely necessary if 
the merit system were to continue and by the fact that 
Congress would not pass a straight pension bill. The action 
of the carriers’ convention soon ended the career of the 
younger retirement body. 


THE JOINT RETIREMENT CONFERENCE AND NEW RETIREMENT 
ASSOCIATIONS 


Shortly after this a Joint Conference on Retirement was 
constituted as a permanent committee of all labor organi- 
zations with government employee members to act as a 
clearing house for retirement propaganda. The work of 
this conference resulted in the passage of a retirement law 
on May 22, 1920. 

The conference is still in existence. Its purpose is to 
look after the administration of the law and to work for a 
liberalization of its provisions. A group of retired em- 
ployees have formed an organization, the Association of 
Retired Civil Service Employees, whose declared purpose 
is, also, to work for a liberalization of the law’s provisions. 
This new group has not been warmly received by the regular 
employee organizations, which are interested in improving 
the law in a number of respects and often find their efforts 
hindered by the retired workers who are interested only 
in increased annuities. Another group, the Retirement 
Federation of Civil Service Employees, has recently been 
formed. Although it has declared its intention of working 
in harmony with the Joint Conference and existing unions 
and associations to bring about a better retirement act and 
equitable administration of the present one, these estab- 
lished organizations oppose it. They say that it can do 
nothing which they are not already doing and that it is 
likely to weaken them and hamper them in the exercise of 
their regular functions.® 


6 Postal Review (1916), p. 77. 

7 Postal Record, October, 1917, p. 293. : Rus 

®See Federal Machinist (organ of District 44, International Association of 
Machinists), October and December, 1922, p. 3; February, 1923, p. 2. 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION 285 


MOVEMENT TO LIMIT THE ABSOLUTE POWER OF REMOVAL 


Retirement is the only question which had been agitated 
through the agency of a special association. Another matter 
of great import to the whole service, the establishment of 
a “court of appeals” to pass upon questions of discipline 
and dismissals, has been agitated for years and has the 
endorsement of almost every employee association. Yet 
no measure to establish such a tribunal has ever come near 
to passage, because there has never been sufficient united 
action among the various employee groups to overcome 
the opposition. 


COMPENSATION FOR INJURY 


A number of important but “unexciting” or undramatic 
measures affecting the interests of the employees have been 
slow of achievement largely because the workers were 
unable to bring sufficient united pressure to bear to wake 
Congress from its sloth and lethargy in dealing with such 
matters. Thus an adequate death or injury compensation 
law was not passed until September 7, 1916 (the Kern- 
McGillicuddy law), although both the departments and 
the various employee groups had stressed the need of one 
for many years.® ‘Thirty-one states and two territories’ 
had adopted workmen’s compensation measures for em- 
ployees in industry before the federal Congress acted in 
behalf of government servants. A very large share of the 
credit for the passage of the Kern-McGillicuddy law be- 
longs to the American Association for Labor Legislation. 


CLOSER UNION OF CIVIL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH 
A. F. OF L. 


The recent progress of the affiliation movement among 
federal workers has served to throw their organizations into 
closer contact through their common membership in the 
labor federation. The A. F. of L. serves as an agency for 
pushing measures of interest to all service groups. Its. 
Joint Legislative Committee, on which all member organi- 
zations interested in legislation as well as the four unaffili- 

® A federal employees’ compensation for injury law had been on the books since 
1908. Commons and Andrews in the preface to the revised edition (1920) of their 
Principles of Labor Legislation refer to this measure as the ‘‘worst compensation 


law in the world.” > 
19 Principles of Labor Legislation (1916 edition), p. 369. 


286 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


ated railway brotherhoods have representation, serves as a 
clearing house for matters of interest to federal employees 
and as a place where differences between the various groups 
can be ironed out and a united program agreed upon. It 
has often been suggested that a still closer union of all 
public service labor organizations and unions having public 
service employee members be effected through the estab- 
lishment of a public employee department of the A. F. 
of L. similar in structure to the five existing departments 
of railway workers, metal trades employees, etc. 


LITTLE REASON FOR CRAFT DIVISIONS AMONG POSTAL WORKERS 


The cooperation and close association so necessary to 
federal workers as a whole is imperative in so far as postal 
workers are concerned. Their organizations, which natu- 
rally sprang up among those whose similarity of work 
threw them into close contact, that is, along craft lines, 
have little reason for continuing their separate existences. 
Most of the important matters which concern postal organi- 
zations affect the personnel as a whole. The workers all 
come under the jurisdiction of a single government depart- 
ment and Congress has for some years past followed the 
practice of legislating for them at a single time and through 
a single bill. Of course each service branch has its own 
particular problems, but there seems no reason why such 
questions could not be handled by a single organization, if 
necessary, through special subordinate sections or depart- 
ments. 

The need for closer union has long been apparent to large 
numbers in all organizations and frequent efforts have been 
made to bring it about. There have been two general 
methods of procedure. One has been to draw the members 
of existing bodies into a single industrial union; the other 
has been to leave the craft groups intact, but to foster their 
closer association and ultimately their federation. 


ATTEMPTS TO FORM “ONE BIG POSTAL UNION” 


Efforts of the first type have failed because of prema- 
turity. Most notable of them have been the attempts of 
the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, which began 
with its unsuccessful effort in 1911 to extend its jurisdic- 


U1 Report of President of National Federation of Federal Employees, 1920, p. 25. 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION 287 


tion over city carriers'? and finally resulted in the forma- 
tion of the National Federation of Postal Employees, whose 
membership included clerks, carriers, railway mail clerks 
and some other employees of the postal establishment.* 
This movement played a part in bringing the other asso- 
ciations into the A. F. of L., but it ended with their affilia- 
tion. 

There have been at least two other unsuccessful “one big 
postal union” movements which differed from the Federa- 
tion’s movement in that they ignored the A. F. of L. and 
stood somewhat to the left of it. The first of these was led 
by a post office clerk at Davenport, Iowa, named Fred 
Feuchter. It attracted some following in the west but died 
before it had really got under way. The second movement, 
led by George Tworger, a carrier in Brooklyn, grew little 
beyond its original nucleus. It existed for some years but 
accomplished nothing. 

Even President Gompers of the A. F. of L., than whom 
there is no stronger supporter of craft unionism anywhere, 
said in 1916 that there was no reason why all postal em- 
ployees should not be in one organization."4 

The affiliation of the carriers and railway mail clerks 
with the A. F. of L. did not lead the clerks’ Federation to 
change its position regarding a single postal union. Nor 
did it end amalgamation sentiment in other branches. 
When the carrier’s application for a national charter came 
before the Executive Council of the A. F. of L., the repre- 
sentative of the postmen in the National Federation of 
Postal Employees said: “We still feel that there should be 
a closer union of all postal workers and we return to the 
N. A. L. C. determined to work for an amalgation of the 
various organizations until the “one big postal union” con- 
trolling our industry in the interests of the men and the 
public shall be achieved.’’*® 

“To this view,” said the organ of the clerks’ Federation, 
“We say Amen!’*° The declaration in favor of a single 
union of postal workers affiliated with the general labor 
movement, which has always been a part of the organiza- 


13 Above, p. 184. 

18 Above, B; 230. 

14 Union Postal Clerk, June, 1916, p. 13. 

25 Union Postal Employe, October, 1917, p. 17. 
16 Same. 


288 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


tion’s constitution, still remains in it.17 But the Federation 
has now adopted the policy of bringing about a single postal 
union through the method of closer association of existing 
organizations. | 


THE MOVEMENT FOR CLOSER ASSOCIATION AMONG POSTAL 
ORGANIZATIONS 


The movement for closer cooperation between existing 
postal bodies, though of long standing, made comparatively 
little headway until recently. As early as 1900 the city 
carriers’ convention ordered the appointment of a commit- 
tee to meet with other employee representatives “to effect 
harmonious action in matters of legislation and to inquire 
into the advisability of forming a postal federation.1* But 
class and craft jealousies and differences prevented the 
movement from making any headway. 

In 1911, as the result of a resolution by the carriers’ con- 
vention directing its national officers to confer with the 
leaders of other postal bodies for the purpose of creating 
an agency for joint action, but making it clear that the 
step was not to be construed as an “amalgamation of the va- 
rious associations,’ a joint advisory committee known as 
the National Council of Postal Associations was set up.?® 
This council consisted of the presidents and secretaries of 
the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National 
Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, the Railway Mail Asso- 
ciation and the United National Association of Post Office 
Clerks. The body never functioned very actively. Aside 
from opposing the pernicious “tenure of office bill” which 
would have limited the terms of departmental employees to 
seven years and from supporting a straight pension retire- 
ment law, it seems to have done little. The fact that it was 
composed of the conservative “stand in” associations loath 
to take any independent action which would be likely to 
bring them into official disfavor accounts largely for the 
council’s inertia. 

The council’s career ended with the movement of the 
railway mail clerks and letter carriers into the A. F. of L. 


17 Constitution of N. F. P.O. C., Art. II: “The objects of the National Federa- 
Hoe of Post Office Clerks shall be to unite the postal employees in one brother- 


$8 Postal Record, October, 1900, p. 301. 
19 Same, October, 1913, p. 321. 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION 289 


With the settlement of their inter-jurisdictional differences, 
cooperation between the affiliated bodies became of the 
closest. Although without formal connection, they took 
joint action on many matters of common interest. In 1920, 
following the entrance of the National Federation of Rural 
Letter Carriers into the official labor movement, the four 
unions set up a Joint Council of Postal Organizations. This 
body, organized along the same lines as the earlier National 
Council, merely gave formal recognition to the cooperation 
already existing between the various national headquarters. 

At the same time local cooperation had in many places 
progressed to an even more advanced stage. Councils of 
civil service organizations had been established in many 
cities. In several smaller post offices joint organizations 
were created, so that the members of various branches of 
the service belonged to one local, but paid their per capita 
into their respective national treasuries. 

This cooperation, local and national, is constantly in- 
creasing. Through it, when the rank and file of the vari- 
ous organizations come to see the advantages of united 
action, will come closer federation and ultimately, no doubt, 
the merging of the various craft groups. At least such has 
been the tendency in other countries, where the trend 
towards cooperation between organizations parallels the 
progress of the American movement to a large extent. 


PROGRESS TOWARDS CLOSER UNION OF POSTAL WORKERS IN 
OTHER COUNTRIES: GREAT BRITAIN 


Cooperation among the various British postal societies, 
of which at one time there were about fifty representing 
different crafts and grades, began in 1897 with the forma- 
tion of the National Joint Committee of Postal, Tele- 
graphic and Telephone Associations of the United Kingdom. 
This organization, popularly known as the N. J. C., was a 
rather loose federation of the six or eight larger associations. 
Between the time of its formation and 1917, when the sec- 
ond important step towards a stronger union was taken, 
several mergers and amalgamations took place between a 
number of the affiliated societies, while some organizations, 
notably Irish groups, withdrew and others were added. All 
this while dozens of the smaller regional, grade or craft 
societies remained outside of the joint body. 


: 


290 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


In August, 1917, forty-five organizations, including those 
in the joint committee, held a conference at which the Fed- 
eration of Post Office Trade Unions was formed. This 
federation was in turn composed of three federations: one 
of the clerical, one of the manipulative, and one of the 
supervisory grades. The plan did not succeed, however, 
because of the refusal of the two largest unions, the Post- 
men’s Federation and the Postal and Telegraph Clerks’ 
Association with respective memberships of 45,000 and 
22,000, to take part in it.?° 

Towards the end of 1919 these two organizations amal- 
gamated. The Fawcett Association (the London postal 
clerks) and the Central London Postmen’s Assoeiation 
shortly joined the merger, while a number of smaller organ- 
izations soon followed suit. Thus in 1920 the employees 
were able to announce the creation of the Union of Post 
Office Workers (the U. P. W.) with a membership approach- 
ing 100,000. One large group, the Post Office Engineering 
Union, composed of technical workers employed in the tele- 
phone and telegraph services, remained outside of the new 
union. In 1921 a joint committee was established to handle 
matters of common interest to both organizations. ‘The 
supervisory employees have a federation of their own, the 
Federation of Post Office Supervising Officers, to which ten 
associations are affiliated. Although “one big postal union” 
is not yet a fact, the Union of Post Office Workers 1 is sparing 
no effort to make it so. 


GERMANY 


Cooperation between the various German postal organi- 
zations dates from shortly after the armistice. Prior to the 
war the government had had few dealings with the numer- 
ous employee associations and there was not the slightest 
trace of cooperation among these groups themselves. But 
when the new régime came into power and reversed the 
labor policy of old bureaucracy, the various postal societies 
found it necessary to establish some agency capable of 
representing the personnel in an authoritative manner. 
Their first step in the direction of closer union was the 
establishment of a “Joint Committee of Postal and Tele- 
graph Organizations.” The powers of this body were soon 

20 The Labour Year Book (British), 1919, p. 311. 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION 291 


found inadequate, and after about a year it was displaced 
by the National Union of Postal and Telegraph Officers, a 
strong federation of six large associations. The National 
Union, when formed, represented about 265,000 workers, 
while its largest constituent association, “Reichsverband 
deutscher Post- und Telegraphenbeamten,” alone had a 
membership of 160,000. This unit, dissatisfied with the 
federated union, shortly demanded the amalgamation of 
the various groups into a single industrial organization. 
The supervisory officials and the so-called “unestablished 
workers” were not included in the federation. The latter 
belonged to the General Workers’ Union, “Deutsche Ver- 
kehrsbund,” whose Postal, Telegraph and Telephone Sec- 
tion represented 60,000 employees.”4 


AUSTRALIA 


A very active campaign for the amalgamation of exist- 
ing postal associations has been going on for some time in 
Australia. The proposition has the support of the rank 
and file. Although the Letter Carriers’ Association en- 
dorsed it at a plebiscite, its national officers have thus far 
succeeded in blocking all efforts to carry out the will of the 
membership.?” 


CANADA 


In Canada, too, the movement towards closer union has 
advanced farther than in this country. It dates from the 
summer of 1918 when the letter carriers and clerks struck 
because the government refused their demand for a Board 
of Conciliation under the Industrial Disputes Act to inves- 
tigate their request for increased pay. The workers in the 
west, dissatisfied with the settlement of the strike and with 
the way in which the officers of their organizations, the 
Federated Association of Letter Carriers and the Dominion 
Postal Clerks’ Association, handled the situation, withdrew 
from these bodies and formed a union called the Amalga- 
mated Postal Workers, asserting jurisdiction over carriers, 
postal and railway mail clerks. In 1921 the group changed 
its name to the Amalgamated Civil Servants of Canada 
and invited all Dominion government employees to join 

21 See In a ihe 1s. P. T. T. (English edition), July, 1922, p. 40; and December, 


1923, pp. 132 
22 Postal Advocate (Australia), Nov. 16, 1922, p. 3 


292 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


its ranks.2? Following this, the Federated Association of 
Letter Carriers, the Dominion Postal Clerks’ Association 
and the Dominion Railway Mail Clerks’ Federation formed 
the Canadian Federation of Postal Employees, which pro- 
posed that the Amalgamated Civil Servants disband and 
that their members return to the various craft groups to 
which they were eligible. The latter rejected this proposal 
and continues as one big union movement outside of the 
federation of the three craft groups.** 


OBSTACLES TO CLOSER UNION IN U. S.: THE UNAPOC VS. THE 
FEDERATION 


Craft rivalry is no longer the serious obstacle it had once 
been to unity among American postal workers. The bar 
at present is rather the differences in method, policy and 
outlook of the several associations. The most serious of 
such differences is that between the two organizations of 
clerks. Despite the claim of the United National Associa- 
tion, the question of affiliation with the American Federa- 
tion of Labor is no longer the real basis of this division. 
By applying for a charter from the general labor body, the 
Association threw away all claim to difference in principle 
between itself and its rival. Since 1918 it has made its 
official “stand in” the sole basis of its appeal for support. 
The officials and the powers in Congress, it claims, are op- 
posed to labor affiliation and consequently such affiliation 
as well as the more militant tactics of its rival have hurt 
employee legislation. A few politicians in the Department 
and in Congress, its publicity matter runs, have it in their 
power to give or refuse help to the workers. The Association, 
being on good terms with these powers, is in a position to 
get help, and all the improvement that the Association has 
failed to achieve is the fault of its rival’s independent atti- 
tude. It cites the Federation’s vote on the ‘“no-strike” 
expression in its constitution and the threats of political 
action against unfriendly Congressmen made by the A. F. 
of L. and the National Federation of Federal Employees, 
an affiliated body, as incidents which have made enemies 
for federal workers. ‘Postal employees,” it says, “cannot 


23 Canadian Department of Labor: Report on Labor Organization in Canada, 
1921, pp. 131-2. 
24Same, p. 142. 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION 293 


afford to be affiliated with such movements (the A. F. of L.). 
They cannot afford to make enemies in Congress.’’5 

The National Federation, on the other hand, while it 
favors cooperation with the authorities when possible, feels 
that the policy of depending solely upon official favor for 
redress of grievances is bound inevitably to compromise 
an organization’s freedom of action and to make its officers 
tools of the powers. The Federation does not deny its op- 
ponent’s “stand in,” but points out that it has been main- 
tained only at the expense of the Association’s self-respect 
and the welfare of the clerks. The National Federation of 
Post Office Clerks has never lost the militancy and spirited 
idealism which the circumstances of its formation as a 
movement of protest against the over-conciliatory tactics 
of the postal associations of the day originally gave to it. 
The Federation’s affiliation, in September 1923, with the 
Postal Telegraph and Telephone International?* at Vienna, 
was in keeping with its tradition as an “advanced” organiza- 
tion. The act not only recognized the international charac- 
ter of the postal service and of the labor movement, but it 
was also a step in advance of the position of the American 
Federation of Labor and of nearly all of its affiliated bodies, 
which have no connection with the international labor move- 
ment. 

The Federation, born and bred, so to speak, in the Amer- 
ican Federation of Labor, is active in official labor councils 
both locally and nationally and many of its leaders hold 
high offices and play prominent roles in the affairs of state 
federations and city central unions. It continually stresses 
its affiliation with the A. F. of L. and constantly emphasizes 
the civil employee’s dependence upon the general labor 
movement. It is so wrapped up in the labor movement that 
it has actually gone too far in crediting the A. F. of L. with 
the attainment of legislative results, holding it responsible 
for practically all of the legislative achievements of postal 
organizations. For this overemphasis of the A. F. of L.’s 

2 United National Association of Post Office Clerks, bulletin: ‘External Affilia- 
tions Hurt Legislation of Postal Employees.’’ See also leaflets: ‘Hays Opposed 
to Affiliations;’’ “A Real Winning Record.’’ ‘ 

% The Postal Telegraph and Telephone International is composed of trade unions 
of employees of the communication services of the leading countries of Europe. 
Its affiliated organizations have a total membership of about 600,000. They are 
unions which belong to the ‘reformist’? wing of the international labor movement 


with headquarters at Amsterdam, as contrasted with the ‘‘revolutionary’”’ wing 
with headquarters at Moscow. 


294 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY: 


role, the Federation’s conflict with the Association is no 
doubt largely responsible. 


THE PRINCIPAL VALUE OF AFFILIATION 


The part played by the A. F. of L. has unquestionably 
been great. The effect of its potential political power and 
the influence of its lobby at the Capitol are not to be un- 
derestimated. But when all due weight has been given to 
these factors, the fact still remains that affiliation has 
been of value to postal organizations principally as a 
guarantee of freedom from official domination. The very 
act of affiliation has been looked upon as a sort of declara- 
tion of independence of departmental tutelage. With the 
support of organized labor to fall back upon, the postal 
unions have come to feel that they can make their demands 
and fight for them without having to compromise on es- 
sentials in order to remain in departmental favor as 
the unaffiliated bodies were obliged to do during the “anti- 
sag” campaign, and as the Unapoc convention of 1921 did 
when it voted down a resolution in favor of a civil service 
“court of appeals,” because the authorities were opposed to 
the creation of such a body.?7 


RELATIVE STRENGTH OF THE UNAPOC AND THE FEDERATION 


The United National Association of Post Office Clerks 
seems to be fighting a losing fight. In spite of the ex- 
travagant membership claim of 35,000 made by its presi- 
dent, Mr. Franciscus, in 1921 and 1922,?* the financial 
report of the secretary for 1921 showed per capita receipts 
from 13,844 members, that for 1922 from 14,506, and that 
for 1923 from 14 675. It has little strength today outside 
of the East, where its principal strongholds are New York 
and Brooklyn, in which places it is still the dominant or- 
ganization. It also has considerable strength in Philadel- 
phia, though it no longer predominates in that city, and has 
a large branch in Chicago. The Federation cast votes for 
17,000 members at the 1922 convention of the A. F. of L., 
and for 18,000 at the 1923 convention, but this is not always 
a good indication of a union’s numbers. The financial re- 
port of the Federation for 1921 showed per capita receipts 


2 Post Office Clerk, November, 1921, 31. 
28 Same, November, 1921, p. 20; November 1922, p. 15. 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION) 295 


from 16,826 members, that for 1922 from 19,260, and that 
for 1923 from 21,023 members. On June 30, 1923, there were 
over 57,000 post office clerks in the service.” It would thus 
appear on the basis of the figures of the two organizations 
that more than thirty-five per cent of the clerical force is 
unorganized. 

Indications are not wanting that the Association is on 
the decline. Not the least significant of such indications 
is its growing bitterness towards the Federation and the 
Federation’s increasing tendency to ignore it. The Union 
Postal Clerk, whose columns once bristled with anti-Unapoc 
attacks, now scarcely refers to the organization. The 
United National Association as it is conducted today rep- 
resents a type of postal labor organization which belongs to 
a period now passed. This is a far more significant indica- 
tion of its ultimate decline than its attacks on its rival and 
its membership figures. The latter may remain stationary 
or may even increase now and then. In the long run, 
however, the Association must either bring its policy abreast 
of that of the other organization or go by the way. 


THE POLICY OF THE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION 


Although the National Association of Letter Carriers is 
affiliated with the A. F. of L., its policy and outlook are 
decidedly different from that of the federated clerks, though 
not sufficiently different to prevent close cooperation with 
them on legislative matters. The Carriers’ Association is 
far more conservative than the Clerks’ Federation and far 
more willing to compromise with the authorities. Although 
in no sense under departmental domination, it is exceed- 
ingly cautious and it is willing to go a long way in order 
to avoid official displeasure. It has always emphasized the 
fact that it is an exceedingly “practical” organization ‘‘in- 
terested in results.” Its policy has been decidedly oppor- 
tunist. Its official organ, the Postal Record, runs along in a 
style more nearly resembling a “trade paper” than a trade 
union paper. It has none of the spirit, humor, interest and 
range of the Union Postal Clerk, the Ratlway Post Office, or 
the R. F. D. News. . 

Yet the National Association of Letter Carriers has been 
remarkably successful. It has never indulged in flights of 

2 Report of the Postmaster General, 1923, p. 103. 


296 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


fancy but it has usually gotten what it has gone after. 
When occasion warrants, it is ready to take very positive 
action. It affiliated with the A. F. of L. when it found the 
time ripe. It fought Burleson as hard as any other postal 
group. Although its Council of Administration recently re- 
fused to join the Postal International, in spite of the fact 
that the proposition had the hearty support of some of the 
leaders, it is probably safe to say that the Association will 
in time join the Vienna federation. The National Associa- 
tion of Letter Carriers is far and away the strongest of the 
postal organizations. Its membership includes practically 
one hundred per cent of the city carrier body. The influence 
of personalities on the development of postal organizations 
has been shown many times in these pages. The Carriers’ 
Association bears the unmistakable impress of its able, 
veteran national secretary, Mr. Edward J. Cantwell. 

While the federated clerks continually emphasize their 
affiliation with the A. F. of L., the carriers seldom mention 
theirs. Their connection with the labor body is purely 
national. There are few, if any, state associations or local 
branches affiliated with state federations of labor or city 
central unions. President Gainor, it is true, has always 
been active and prominent at the national conventions of 
the American Federation of Labor, but beyond his activity, 
the organized postmen seem to take little interest in A. F. 
of L. affairs. Mr. Gainor’s prominence in the Federation of 
Labor was attested by the action of the Portland, Ore., con- 
vention in electing him a fraternal delegate to the British 
Trade Union Congress of 1924. 


PRESENT POLICY OF THE RAILWAY MAIL ASSOCIATION 


The Railway Mail Association, at one time the most re- 
.actionary of all postal bodies, now pursues a policy as 
independent and advanced as any in the service. The As- 
sociation made the following comment upon its change in 
policy in an editorial in a recent issue of the Rawlway Post 
Office®® in which it discussed the relative merits of “stand 
in” and independent organization policies: — 
“The Railway Mail Association has tried both 
policies. ‘There was a day when Association officers 


‘stood’ very high in official estimation, even if they 
80 May, 1922: ‘Progressive Organization Work,” pp. 21-22, 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION 297 


did not have the approval of the membership of the 
organization. And while Association officers of those 
days were properly rewarded for their harmony with 
the Department, in due course of time, yet it was not 
until the Organization adjusted itself so that it could 
select officers in accord with the progressive ideas of 
the majority that the working conditions began to 
materially improve. Practically all progress in work- 
ing conditions, salary increases and more efficient Rail- 
way Mail Service are the result of the progressive 
policies of the Railway Mail Association since it be- 
came responsive to the will of the rank and file instead 
of being dominated by officialdom.” 


Like the National Association of Letter Carriers, the 
Railway Mail Association has confined its connection with 
the A. F. of L. to national affiliation. Few, if any, of its 
locals have connections with the official labor movement. 
In spite of its far-seeing progressive and independent 
leadership, the Railway Mail Association still contains an 
active minority which is constantly endeavoring to swing 
the organization back to its old “stand in” policy. The 
activities of this reactionary faction serve as a check upon 
the national administration. 

The Railway Mail Association has had a much greater 
development as a “professional association” than the other 
postal groups. A very large proportion of its recommenda- 
tions to the Department has to do with service improve- 
ments, as such, as apart from improvements affecting the 
railway postal clerks. It is also the most craft-conscious 
of all postal bodies and a majority of its membership 
would no doubt oppose any attempt to have it merge its 
identity in “one big postal union,” or in any movement 
which tended to impair its autonomy in any respect. 


THE COLOR QUESTION: THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF POSTAL 
EMPLOYEES 


There is one other issue, seldom mentioned, which has 
acted as a dividing force in the postal labor movement, 
namely, the color question. Most of the regular organiza- 
tions admit negroes to membership. Some admit them into 
the same locals as whites, while some have separate white 


298 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


and colored locals. The Railway Mail Association, how- 
ever, bars colored clerks. These workers, left without organ- 
ization, formed the National Alliance of Postal Employees, 
in Georgia, in 1913. Although composed primarily of rail- 
way mail clerks, this organization admits and has consider- 
able numbers of all other classes of postal employees. In 
so far as the colored employees are concerned, it is a “one 
big postal union.” It is certainly a “national postal organ- 
ization.” Yet it is not a member of the National Service 
Relations Council and seems to have little to do with the 
other postal bodies. 


THE DIVISIONS IN THE RANKS OF THE RURAL CARRIERS 


By far the least advanced postal group in so far as 
organization is concerned are the rural carriers. These 
workers suffer from a division in their ranks which in 
many ways is as serious as that in the ranks of the clerks. 
This is true in spite of the fact that the A. F. of L. organ- 
ization, the National Federation of Rural Letter Carriers, 
is at present almost negligible so far as numbers are con- 
cerned. The serious split in the rural carriers’ ranks is not 
between the two organizations, but between those who sup- 
port the editor of the R. F. D. News and those who oppose 
him. So long as the present relations between the Associa- 
tion and the News continue there can be little hope of a very 
substantial increase in organization strength. The fact 
that the News and its editor have served the postmen faith- 
fully and well makes little difference. The R. F. D. News 
has long been, and in many ways still is, the rural car- 
riers’ chief asset, but it is also their principal liability, 
the chief obstacle to the organization’s future progress. 
It has undoubtedly done its part in procuring legislation 
and in keeping the organization from falling under the 
domination of the officials. But at the same time it has 
completely subordinated the Association to itself. It lacks 
social vision and economic understanding. It fails com- 
pletely to grasp the significance and aspirations of the 
labor movement.*! While it has not gone out of its way 
to curry favor with the departmental authorities, it has 
always tried to maintain a “stand in” with the powers that 


i & See R. F. D. News, Sept. 17, 1921; editorial referring to “‘rapacity of organ- 
ized labor,’’ p. 4. 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION 299 


be in Congress. There are many who charge the editor of 
the News with ambitions for political preferment. These 
rumors have gone a long way towards increasing the hos- 
tility and distrust of the anti-Brown carriers. 

The News’ policy towards the Association’s rival, the 
National Federation of Rural Letter Carriers, has been to 
ignore it rather than to attack it. The News has, however, 
constantly attacked the affiliation of government em- 
ployees with “outside organizations.” Such attacks cer- 
tainly come with ill grace from a source which is itself 
an “outside affiliation” to an organization of government 
employees. 

The rural carriers, even if their relations with the News 
were altered, would very likely continue to be the principal 
obstacle to the amalgamation of all the rank and file 
organizations for some time to come, for the great majority 
of the rural postmen have little sympathy with or under- 
standing of the labor movement. 


THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POST OFFICE LABORERS 


In addition to the organizations representing the four 
great divisions of the service, there are a number of other 
postal associations. All but two of these, the National 
Association of Post Office Laborers and the National Alli- 
ance of Postal Employees, represent the supervisory forces. 
The post office laborers number but a few thousand, so 
that their organization, even though it now represents a 
substantial majority of them, is not very powerful or in- 
fluential. In the fall of 1907 a local union affiliated with 
the A. F. of L. was formed by one hundred and twenty 
laborers at the Chicago Post Office, while a few months 
later, in January, 1908, three hundred of these workers in 
New York took like action. These unions were never able to 
do very much and when the present National Association of 
Post Office Laborers was formed at New York a few years 
later, they went by the way. In 1919 the laborer’s associa- 
tion applied to the A. F. of L. for a national charter, but 
its request was refused on the grounds that it was not 
strong enough to stand alone as a national union. The 
Association is officially recognized by the strong postal 
organizations and has depended largely upon them for the 


300 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


support of its measures. Recently it seems to have adopted 
a policy of leaning heavily upon the Department. 


THE OFFICIALS’ ORGANIZATIONS 


There are four associations of postal officials: the Na- 
tional Association of Supervisory Post Office Employees, 
the National Council of Supervisory Officials of the Rail- 
way Mail Service, the National League of District Postmas- 
ters, representing third and fourth class postmasters, and the 
National Association of Postmasters, representing first and 
second class postmasters. 


THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SUPERVISORY P. 0. EMPLOYEES 


Of these four organizations, the first named, the National 
Association of Supervisory Post Office Employees, is most 
active and “alive.” It was formed in Louisville, Kentucky, 
in 1908. It has branches throughout the country and its 
membership includes about fifty per cent of the supervisory 
force in first and second class post offices. Although theo- 
retically protected by civil service rules, supervisory posts 
usually go by political favor, and they can likewise be lost 
through political disfavor. This has kept the “super- 
visories” organization from ever becoming very large or 
active. There is also somewhat of a cleavage between the 
higher and lower officials. The former usually favor leav- 
ing matters to Congress and the Department to a greater 
extent than do the latter. 

The Supervisors’ Association and the rank and file organi- 
zations have helped and cooperated with one another on 
many occasions. When the former was making a drive 
for a salary reclassification in 1913, it received the hearty 
support of the organized rank and file. When all classes 
of employes were waging their campaign for a salary in- 
crease in 1919 and 1920 the representatives of the officials’ 
association served on joint publicity committees where they 
were as active as any of the employee leaders. During 
these years there was some trace of sentiment favorable 
toward bringing the Association into the A. F. of L. and 
even some talk about forming a separate supervisors’ 
union.*? However, the “supervisory” was still “too polit- 
ical” for such a step. 

See Union Postal Employe, February, 1919, p. 16. 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION © 301 


NATIONAL COUNCIL OF SUPERVISORY OFFICIALS OF RAILWAY 
MAIL SERVICE 


In 1922 the railway mail officials met at New York and 
formed the National Council of Supervisory Officials of 
the Railway Mail Service. The total number eligible to 
membership in this association is hardly above three hun- 
dred. Yet, two days after its formation, its delegate to 
the National Service Relations Council said, on applying 
for admission to that body, that his organization already 
numbered between one hundred and fifty and two hundred. 
The reason for this astonishingly rapid growth, according 
to the delegate, was that the group was “organized by 
request.”** Whose “request” he did not say, but it has 
been widely whispered that the request was the Depart- 
ment’s, so that the railway mail officials might have a voice 
and, incidentally, a pair of official votes in the National 
Service Relations Council. Yet despite this, there seems no 
good reason why the railway mail officials should not be or- 
ganized and should not express their views in the National 
Service Relations Council merely because they are few in 
number. 


THE THIRD AND FOURTH CLASS POSTMASTERS 


The National League of District Postmasters (third and 
fourth class) draws its membership from among small-town 
shopkeepers. The fourth class postmasters attend to the 
government work and their private affairs at the same time. 
They do not receive fixed salaries like other government 
servants. Their compensation consists of a commission on 
the cancellation of stamps on matter mailed from their 
offices. Until eight or ten years ago fourth class postmaster- 
ships were rural political plums. During the Taft adminis- 
tration the offices were placed under the civil service.** Al- 
though in some places the incumbents still change with 
shifts in politics, the places are becoming less and less 
political. This is not due so much to the protection of the 
civil service regulations as to the fact that the jobs are no 

3 See Railway Post Office, February, 1922, p. 18. 

* Fourth class postmasters, whose compensation amounts to less than $500 a year, 
are not in the competitive classified service. They are appointed by the Postmaster 
General on the recommendation of the inspector for the district. This class is 


practically unorganizable since most of them do not have a sufficient stake in the 
service, 


302 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


longer considered “desirable.” The compensation is low as 
compared with the amount of work required. In recent 
years many fourth class postmasterships have actually gone 
begging. 

Third class postmasters are full time employees. They 
are required to give eight hours of service daily to the De- 
partment and are forbidden. to engage in other business 
which would interfere with the government’s time. If the 
postmaster has a store, as is often, if not usually, the case, 
he is obliged to hire some one to take charge of it during 
his hours of postal work. Recent orders placing these 
officers under the civil service have not been effective. The 
League is now working to take the third class offices “out 
of politics” by an act of Congress which would place them 
in the classified service. 

The National League of District Postmasters has an of- 
ficial organ, the Postmasters’ Advocate, publishec at Wash- 
ington. For the past few years it has maintained a legisla- 
tive agent at the Capitol. The organization is becoming 
more and more active and it will no doubt in time develop 
into a group similar to the present Rural Carriers’ Associa- 
tion. These small-town shopkeeper-postmasters are not an 
easy class to organize. They are confirmed individualists. 
They have no organization background. The group is only 
just beginning to have a continuous membership. 


THE FIRST AND SECOND CLASS POSTMASTERS 


The National Association of Postmasters (first and sec- 
ond class) is an organization of politicians. Despite the 
fact that these places have been formally placed under 
the civil service, they are still altogether political and 
change with the administration. If first and second class 
postmasterships were really taken “out of politics,” the 
organization would no doubt become a useful professional 
association. At present, it is hardly more than an excuse 
for a pleasant social gathering every year. The national 
convention, of course, spends some time discussing postal 
problems, but its purpose is often other than professional— 
especially around election time. In the fall of 1915 Post- 
master General Burleson welcomed the convention of the 
National Association of Postmasters to Washington, be- 
cause, he said, they were the only convention which did not 


PROSPECT FOR CLOSER COOPERATION — 303 


come to the Capital to ask for an inerease in salary. On 
the last day of the gathering the postmaster at Cincinnati 
told the delegates that they were assembled primarily “to 
devise ways and means to aid in the reelection of President 
Wilson.”** ‘This was evidently considered a perfectly legiti- 
mate purpose for political appointees. 


THE POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE MERIT SYSTEM 


The rank and file organizations, although they have 
always insisted upon a greater degree of political freedom 
for civil servants, would never allow their groups to become 
the tools of a political party. On the contrary, they have 
been staunch defenders of the merit system and have always 
resisted attempts against it on the part of politicians in 
Congress and in the executive. They actively opposed a 
“tenure of office bill’? which would have limited the tenure 
of civil workers to seven years. This measure actually 
passed both Houses of Congress but was vetoed by Presi- 
dent Taft in 1912.°° They fought the so-called Cullop 
amendment in 1914 which aimed to place the appointment 
of postal employees entirely in the hands of local post- 
masters. They have likewise fought dozens of other mea- 
sures aimed against the merit system in the civil service. 
While all organizations have strongly supported the merit 
system, no group has ever stood by it more bravely than 
that much abused “trouble-making” organization, the old 
Brotherhood of Railway Postal Clerks and its organ, the 
Harpoon. Defense of the civil service seems to be the one 
issue upon which there is little difference of opinion among 
postal groups. 


THE POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE POSTAL SERVICE 


In defending the merit system against the attacks of 
politicians, the organized postal workers were not only safe- 
guarding the efficiency of the service but they were also de- 
fending their jobs and their security of tenure. The stake 
which the organized postal workers have come to realize 
that they have in the stability and general good of the 
postal establishment has been demonstrated by an increas- 
ing interest on their part in general service affairs, which a 


% See Harpoon, No. 73, Nov. 28, 1915. 
% See Postal Record, November, 1912, p. 274, 


‘804 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


few years ago would have been considered altogether out- 
side the scope of organization activity. Of this, the interest 
of the Railway Mail Association in the reestablishment of 
the weight system of railway mail pay,®* the opposition of 
the National Council of Postal Organizations to one cent 
postage,®* and the agitation of all the groups for a readjust- 
ment of postage rates for parcel post®® are a few ready 
examples. The action of the Railway Mail Association in 
establishing service committees to deal with the field of- 
ficials,*° and the suggestions of the National Association of 
Letter Carriers and the National Federation of Post Office 
Clerks regarding the supervision of work and the reorgan- 
ization of the inspection service,*? are examples of a growing 
interest in problems of management. The fact that the 
supervisory officials are organized and that they take an 
active interest in service affairs will doubtless lead to co- 
operation between their associations and those of the rank 
and file on many service matters in the future. Insofar as 
problems of management are concerned, however, Amer- 
ican postal workers are behind many groups of private em- 
ployees in this country as well as postal employees abroad. 
In almost every important European state “control of the 
industry” is the declared goal of the organized postal 
workers.* 

The common problems which have given rise to the co- 
operation which now exists among various rank and file 
organizations will undoubtedly draw the various groups 
closer together despite their present differences in character 
and outlook. Then the strong temptation of the Depart- 
ment to hamper employee organization by playing one 
group against another will be gone and the workers will 
be able to meet the administration on a basis nearer to 
equality. And this will have a profound effect not merely 
upon the well-being of the workers but upon the service as 
well. 


87 Above, p. 262. : 

88 See Sere ‘dated March 26, 1920. Congressional Record (66th Cong., 2nd 
Sess.), p. 

39 LS iy “i ‘the Industrial Secretary of the Railway Mail Association, 1923, p. 9. 

40 Above, P: 259. 

41 Above, 266. 
ae aS Bowank J. W.: Control of Industry (published by the P.T.T. Interna- 
ional). 


INDEX 


Affiliation of government work- 
ers with outside labor 
organizations 

with A. F. of L., 16, 94-95, 108- 
112, 149-150, 158-160, 163- 
168, 181-185, 208, 214, 221, 
223, 226-228, 231-235, 238, 
242-243, 256-257, 292-294, 
296, 297, 298 

divided allegiance and, 15 ff. 

Butler, N. M., on, 17-18 
Senator Myers on, 16-17 

with Knights of Labor, 65, 70- 
72, 86, 90, 91-92 

American Association for Labor 
Legislation, 285 

American Federation of Labor 
(see also Affiliation and 
“Anti-gag”) 

affiliation of government em- 
ployees with, 15-17 
Lloyd-La Follette act and, 
171-172, 181 
moves against in Congress, 
226-229 
Post Office Department op- 
poses, 150, 156-168, 214, 
221, 223, 256-257, 292 
“anti-gag” law and, 112, 
168, 171, 173 

attacks postal 
conditions, 93 

backs eight-hour bills, 95, 96 

backs reclassification of clerks, 
95 

closer union of postal workers 
through, 286-287 

government employees, propor- 
tion affiliated with, 45-46 
invites postal workers to join, 


letter carriers and, 183, 184, 
185, 230-232, 295-296 

post office clerks and, 94, 95, 
108-109, 233-235, 292-293 


employment 


American Federation of Labor— 

(Continued) 

railway mail clerks’ unions, at- 
tempt to form, 149-150 

railway postal clerks and, 149- 
150, 163-168, 181-182, 232- - 
233, 297 

rural letter carriers, 242-243, 
298 


supervisors, sentiment for all 
affiliation with, among, 
300 


value of affiliation with, 294 
American Federation of Teach- 
ers, 46 
disapproves of teachers’ strikes, 
48 


Andrews, J. B., 25, 285 
“Anti-gag” Campaign 
A. F. of L., and, 112, 168, 171 
beginnings of, 112 
bills, 

Jones-Poindexter, 168 
Lloyd-La Follette, 168 ff. 
Bundy Recorder and, 112, 

122-123 
in Congress, 170-176 
Harpoon and, 125, 127, 151- 


154 
“Labor’s Bill of Grievances” 
1906, 112-113 
“Anti-gag” Law, 172-173 
Burleson urges repeal of, 
220-222 
effects of, 181 ff. 
National Association of Manu- 
facturing and, 169 
pe associations and, 173- 
1 
opposition to, 168-169 
Arsenals, 12 
ie ‘mat Works’ Council, 
Kesstation of Retired Civil Ser- 
vice Employees, 284 


305 


306 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Australia, postal organization in, 
291 (see also Victoria) 


Barnett, George E., 52 
Bartlett, John H., First Assistant 
Postmaster General 
attacks Clerks’ Federation, 264 
bulletin board censorship order 

of, 264-265 
on inspectors, 265 } 
“overtime” controversy with, 
263-265 
Basic industries 
dependence’ of 
upon, 13 
movement to limit employee 
rights in, 14 
right of employees to strike, 
14; to affiliate with labor 
movement, 15 
Belloc, Hilaire, 53 
Blakeslee, Fourth Assistant, on 
employee organizations, 
212-213 
Blanton, Congressman, anti-affil- 
lation amendment of, 228 
Borland, Congressman, defeated 
by federal employees, 273 
Bourne, Jonathan, Senator, on 
attitude of employees to- 
ward “anti-gag” bills, 175 
Bowen, J. W., 304 
Branch 187 of atonal Asso- 
' elation P. O. Clerks 
admits officials to member- 
ship, 87 
chartered as official, New York 
branch of National Asso- 
ciation, 87 
dissolved at Postmaster Wil- 
cox’s request, 91 
Officials force clerks to join, 


government 


Bristow, Fourth Assistant Post- 
master General 


dominates postal  establish- 
ment, 101 
hostility towards President 


Keller, 101-102 
investigates “promotion syndi- 
cate,” 91 


Bristow, Fourth Assistant Post- 

master General—(Cont’d) 

opposition to employee organ- 
ization, 101 


rebuffs rural carriers’ spokes- 
men, 106-107 
nes over city carriers, 


100 
Brotherhood of Railway Mail 
Postal Clerks, 119-120 
Brotherhood of Railway Postal 
Clerks 
affiliates with A. F. of L., 182 
attitude towards strike ques- 


tion, 148 
bars officials, 146-147 
Department’s opposition to, 


147-148, 156 ff. 
leader dismissed and move- 
ment crushed (1907), 122 
merges with Clerks’ Federa- 
tion, 230 
movement of 1907, 122 ff. 
movement of 1911, 146 ff. 
Van Dyke and, 146-147 
Brown, W. D., 197, 240-243, 299 
Brown, Wm. sty defeated with 
employees’ aid, 272 
Bruck, James, 92 


Budget 
executive and employee activ- 
ity, 23-24 


Taft and, 138 
Bulletin boards, censorship of, 
264-265 
Bundy Recorder, The 
attacks gag, 122-123 
stopped by authorities, 123 
Bureau of Engraving and Print- 
ing, 10, 12, 25 
employee councils in, 252 
Bureaucracy, 135-137, 268 (see 
also Officials) 
Burleson, Albert Sidney, Post- 
master General 
affiliation with A. F. of L., at- 
tacked by, 221 
economy program of, 186 ff. 
employee organization op- 
posed, 208 ff. 
employees’ pay basis changed, 
R. F. D., 199-201 
labor policy of, 185, 186 ff. 


INDEX 


Burleson, Albert Sidney, Post- 

master General—(Cont’d) 

organization leaders dismissed, 
215-219, 223-225 

organizations refused recogni- 
tion by, 222 

pay of collectors reduced, 188- 
189 


repeal of “anti-gag” law urged 
by, 220-221 
repeal of labor legislation ad- 
vocated, 186-187 
R. F. D. private contract 
operation favored, 201-202 
salary increases opposed, 200, 
201, 202, 207 
Butler, Nicholas Murray, on civil 
employees’ organization, 
17-18 
Butler, Pierce, 223, 225 


Canada 
government printing bureau, 
open shop in, 538 
postal organization in, 291-292 
strike of postal workers in, 203, 
291 
Canfield, James T., President of 
R.M.A., admits inefficacy 
oF complaints to officials, 
132 
Cantwell, E. J., 116, 282, 296 
Carroll, Mollie Ray, 47 
Casualties, in railway mail ser- 
vice, 120, 121, 128 
Cedar Rapids convention, 107- 
108 


Chicago 

“ads” of clerks’ union, 204, 
223-225 

A. F. of L. union, 94 

discharge of union leaders at, 
223-225 

Gordon, Postmaster, 92 

independent clerks’ associa- 
tion, 88-91 

Knights of Labor clerks’ local, 
91-92 

Nelson, O. F., discharge, 127 

Rogers, F. T., discharge, 92 

working condition in post office 
1910, 125-127 


307 


Chicago Tribune 
attacks P. O. Department, 223 
clerks’ ads in, 233-234 
Civil employees 
compared with soldiers, 16 ff. 
Senator Myers’ statement, 


President Butler’s statement, 
17-18 
Outlook editorial, 18 
Survey editorial, 19 
various functions of, 10-11 
Civil Service Act 
effect of passage on employee 
organization, 61 
exceptions to provisions of, 32 
Civil Service Commission, U. S. 
investigates employee activity 
against Loud, 100 
Civil Service Reform Movement 
on political danger of em- 
ployee organization, 26 
recognizes non-political char- 
acter of technical jobs, 23 
Civil Service Rules 
concerning political activity, 
—42 
concerning removals 
Roosevelt’s permitting with- 
out notice, 113 
Taft’s requiring notice, 170 
Clerical workers (see Clerks) 
Clerks 
difference between and letter 
carriers, 79-80 
post office, work of, 79-80 
proportion organized in gov- 
ernment and private em- 
ployment, 46 
“white collar” prejudice of, 46 
Cleveland, railway mail clerks’ 
union, 150 
Closed shop in government ser- 
vice, 51-53 
Coleman, Arch, Postmaster at 
Minneapolis, 267 
Collective bargaining 
limitations on in public em- 
ployment, 20-21, 25-26 
steps toward in U. S. service, 
21, 258-261 
Color question, 233, 297-298 


808 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Committees (see Service Com- 
mittees and Councils) 
Commons, J. R., 25, 28, 64, 70, 

285 


Compensation for injury, 285 
Complaints of employees 
authorities invite, 134, 262-263 
LEN is discourages, 131- 
5 
railroads object to in R. M.S., 
132-133 
Conference Conventions, 253-255 
Contract relation in public em- 
ployment, 20 
i state as sovereign and as 
employer, 20 ff. 
Control of industry 
civil employees and, 23, 50-51, 
250-252, 256, 258-260, 287, 
297, 303-304 
private employees and, §0-51, 
304 


Conyngton, Mary 
on government salaries, 33 
on separations from service, 34 
ae Goma mass meeting at, 
6 


Cooperation among postal or- 
ganizations 
in Australia, 291 
in Canada, 291-292 
in Germany, 290-291 
in Great Britain, 289-290 
in U. S., 288-289, 303-304 
Cooperation of organized em- 
ployees with authorities, 
244 ff., 259-260, 292, 293, 
295, 304 
Cortelyou, George B., Postmas- 
ter General 
attitude towards Clerks’ Fed- 
eration, 109 
on. employee organization, 110 
Councils, employee 
Bureau of Engraving 
Printing, 252 
Rock Island Arsenal, 252 
service relations, 250-251 
welfare in postal service, 247- 
251 
Whitley, 251-252 
Cowherd, Wm. 8., defeated with 
employee aid, 273 


and 


Cox, yont S. (Sunset), 59, 63, 


Cox, W. V., 60 
Crafts 
in postal service, organization 
on basis of, 286-287, 289- 
292 
the skilled in government ser- 
vice, 18, 25, 46 
Cunningham, ‘National President 
of Rural Carriers’ Asso- 
ciation 
Bristow’s hostility towards, 107 
dismissed from service, 107 
Cushing, Marshall, 120 


Dayton, Charles W., Postmaster 
at, New York, attitude to- 
wards clerks’ organization, 


86 
De Graw, P. V., Fourth Assist- 
ant, 198 : 
Demotions for organization ac- 
tivity, 160 ff. 
Erwin and others, 162 
Van Dyke, 160 
Denationalization of postal tele- 
graph and telephone. ser- 
vices, movement toward in 
Europe, 12 
Dennison, Henry S., 246 
Departmental domination of em- 
ployee organizations, 27, 
82-83, 87, 141-143, 164-167, 
174, 176-177, 236-238, 292- 
293 
Dillon, Simon P., 58 
Discharges (see Dismissals for 
organization activity) 
Discipline for organization ac- 
tivity (see Demotions and 
Dismissals for —) 
Dismissals for organization ac- 
tivity, 43 
ae of Postmaster Pearson 
K. of L., carriers, 65 
Biotherwand leaders in 1886, 
119 
Chicago union leaders, 223-225 
at Cleveland, 158 
Cunningham, 107 
Flaherty, 219 
Keller, J. C., 102 


INDEX 


Dismissals for organization ac- 
tivity—(Continued) 
at Minneapolis, 266-267 
officers of New York Clerks’ 
Association, 82 

Quackenbush, 163 
Rogers, F. T., 92 
rural carrier leader, 201, 215 
Ryan, 216 


Schaug, 122 
Slocum, 162 
Thornton, J. L., 145 
Wells, H. M., 123 
White, 217 


Disraeli, 28 

“Driving” in government service, 
31 (see also Speed tests, 
and Efficiency rating sys- 
tems) 


Efficiency and Economy, Com- 
mission on, 138-139 
Efficiency rating systems 
in post office, 190-191 
in railway mail service, 136- 
137, 194, 208-209 
Eight-hour movement 
Knights of Labor and, 63 ff. 
letter carriers and, 64-67 
Elroy and Tracy railway post 
office, refusal of clerks to 
do extra duty, 145 
Emery, James A., apposes “anti- 
gag” bill, 169 
Empire City Branch of Letter 
Carriers’ Association, 71 
England (see Great Britain) 
Erwin, Charles H., case of, 161- 
i62 
Etheridge, Florence, 32 
Executive responsibility, 21 
and employee activity, 21 
Stewart, Joseph, on, 22 


Federal labor unions of A. F. of 
L. (see Unions) 

Federation (see American Fed- 
eration of Labor, National 
Federation of Post Office 
Clerks, National Federa- 
tion of Postal Employees, 
National Federation of 
Rural Letter Carriers) 


309 
Federation—(Continued) 
movement towards, among 
postal organizations in U. 
S., 288-289 
movement towards abroad, 
289-292 


Fergusson, Harvey, 31 
Feuchter, Fred., t/t: to form 
one big postal union, 287 
‘Fining Case,” 95 
Firefighters, International Asso- 
ciation of, 46 
attitude towards 
strikes, 48 
Fitzgerald, Michael, 74 
Flaherty, Thomas F., 186, 193 
219, 278 
on postal strikes, 278 
Ford, Henry Jones 
justifies limitations on em- 
ployee appeals to legisla- 
ture, 
Foreign countries, postal organ- 
izations in, 289-292, 293, 
304 
Edgar C., Congressman, 
elected with employee 
support, 273 
France 
civil servants in, distinguish 
between technical and 
political functions, 22 
importance of question. of pub- 
a employee organization 


firemen’s 


Ellis, 


Natal strike, 17, 125 
Franciscus, C. P., 235, 236 
Frankel, Lee K., Dr., 246 
Functions of civil workers, class- 

ified, 10-11 


“Gag” order, 40 

A. F. of L.’s protest in “Labor’s 
Bill of Grievances,” 112- 
113 

campaign against, beginning of 
112, (see also “Anti-gag” 
campaign) 

carriers’ ge Sage 
cerning, 

departmental oF 1885, 85 

first Roosevelt, 96 

revised Roosevelt, 113 


con- 


810 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


“Gag” order—(Continued) 
Taft’s, 138-189 
“wreck gag,” 130-131 
Gainor, E. J., 218-219, 296 
Gibbons, William F., 236 
Gladstone, 28 
Goltra, Edw. B., 92, 109, 111 
Gompers, Samuel, President of 
AN opiLs 
“anti-gag” law and, 112, 168, 
171 


on Burleson, 226 


hint of, on strike policy, 49, 279 © 


on secret society order, 157 
on single union of postal work- 
ers, 287 
Gordon, Postmaster, at Chicago, 
uniform order, 92 
Gorman, John J., Congressman, 
seal with employee aid, 
274 
Grandfield, Dr. C. P., First As- 
sistant Postmaster Gen- 
eral, 177 
Great Britain 
Dockyard members in Parlia- 
ment of, 28 
Gladstone and Disraeli on dan- 
gers of civil service in- 
fluence over Parliament, 
28 
no stringent legal restrictions 
on civil servants in, 42-43 
postal organizations in, 289- 
290 


Whitley Councils in, 252-253 


Hard, William, 186, 194, 197 
Harding, eae Ge 263, 264, 267 
Harley, J. H., 
“Harnessmakers, ‘ the, 86 
Harpoon, The 

eco organ of Brotherhood, 


campaign of for safe cars, 132, 
151, 154 

character and methods of, 124, 
129-139 

circulation of, 125, 155-156, 182 

Department’s disapproval of, 
123, 161, 163 

fight of, against “pag,” 124, 
125, 127, 151-155 


Harpoon, The—(Continued) 
merged with Union Postal 
Employee, 230 
and merit system, 303 
raises funds for Tracy-Pierre 
“strikes,” 145-146, 154 
sanitary conditions in R.MS. 
and, 127-130, 133, 151 
supports Fairmont “strikers,” 
276 
Harrison, President, 
merit system, 72 
Hays, Will H., Postmaster Gen- 


extends 


eral, 295, 244 ff. 
on affiliation with A. F. of a 
256-257 
changes Department’s labor 
policy, 244 ; 
on “humanizing” the service, 
244-245 
recognizes employee organiza- 
tions, 256-257 
Henderson, Second Assistant 


Postmaster General, effort 
of, to rectify grievances, 
6 


262 
Hitchcock, Frank T., First As- 
sistant and Postmaster 
General 
attitude towards Clerks’ Fed- 
eration, 109 
at city carriers’ 
1907, 115-116 
Ronen policy of, 139 ff., 186, 
19 


convention, 


forces retirement of letter car- 
riers’ president, 115-116 
helps reclassification in 1907, 
114-115 
Rian i, Ar E., on right to strike, 


Holland, James, 115-116 

Hours of labor of postal em- 
ployees (also see eight- 
hour movement), 59, 60, 
83, 140, 177-180, 193, 203, 
262, 263-265 

Reilly eight-in-ten-hour law, 
177-180 

‘Humanizing” the postal service, 
244 ff. 


the bureaucracy and, 268 
effect of “politics” on, 268 


INDEX 


“Humanizing” the postal ser- 
vice—( Continued) 

employee suspicions concern- 
ing, 

Hays announcement concern- 
ing, 255 


Industrial Conference, Presi- 
dent’s Second on collec- 
tive bargaining in public 
employment, 21 

Industrial democracy (see con- 
trol of industry) 

Industrial ‘onan of govern- 
ment, 

“Inquisition, ; ihe. 158-160 

Inspectors, post office 

anti-organization activities of, 
67, 102, 123, 146, 158, 161- 
167, 923, 265 

at conference conventions, 255 

Department’s reliance upon, 
265-266 

employee recommendations 
concerning, 266, 304 

Interdependence of public and 
private employees, 47 

International, Postal, Telegraph, 
and Telephone, 293, 296 

Italy, movement to denation- 
alize non-self-supporting 
state industries in, 12 


James, Thomas L., Postmaster 
at New York, overtime 
order, 60 

Joint Commission on Postal 
Salaries, 205-206 

on affiliation with A. F. of L., 
228 

Joint Committee of Postal, Tele- 
graphic, and Telephone 
Associations, National of 
United Kingdom, 289 

Joint Conference on Retirement, 
284 

Joint Council of Postal Organ- 
izations, 289, 304 

Jordan, Dr. Llewellyn, 282 

Journals, independent postal, 
part of in formation of 
organizations, 182 


311 


‘Keep Commission,” favors con- 
tributory retirement sys- 
tem, 281 
Keleher, Wm. T., 52 
Keller, James C., President, 75 
on affiliation of Carriers’ Asso- 
ciation with A. F. of L., 
183 
Bristow’s 
101-102 
dismissed from service, 102 
opposition to in Association, 
102-103 
protests Roosevelt “gag” order, 


98 
Kelly, Wm. E., 174 
Kern-MecGuillicuddy law, 285 
Kidwell, John A., President of 
Railway Mail Association 
becomes persona non grata at 
Department, 121 
protests against organization’s 
conservative policy, 121 
Knights of Labor 
break between and National 
Association of Letter Car- 
riers, 70-72 
and eight-hour movement, 63- 


hostility towards, 


“Harnessmakers,” 86 

letter carriers, 70-72 

letter carriers affiliate with, 65 

post. office clerks at Chicago 
join, 91-92 

post office clerks’ local at New 
York, 86, 90 

postal authorities oppose affili- 
ation with, 65-66 

push carriers’ eight-hour bill, 
66-67 


Koons, First Assistant Postmas- 
ter General 
and discharge of Chicago union 
leaders, 223-224 
opposes affiliation with A. F. 
of L., 223, 238 
opposes salary increases, 207 


La Follette, Robert M., Senator 

on Departmental domination 

of employee leaders, 176 

opening mail, charges concern- 
ing, 1 


312 


La Follette, Robert M., Senator 
—(Continued) 
questionnaire of, to R.MS. 
clerks, 167-168 
on right to organize, 167 
on right of petition, 168 
Lane, Franklin K., on govern- 
ment service, 134 
Legislative Action, dependence 
of public employees upon, 
2 


Leroy, Maxime, 22 


Letter carriers (see also National 


Association of, Hours of 
Labor, Salaries) 
position of, compared with 
clerks, 79-80 
literary Digest, The, 204 
Lloyd-La Follette act, 35, 36 
effect of, 171, 172, 181 ff. 
full text, 172-173 
Los Angeles, local of Brother- 
hood of 1907, at, 121 
Loud, Eugene F., Congressman, 
88 


defeat of, 99 
employees’ campaign against, 
99-100 
opposes reclassification of sal- 
aries, 97 
Lowell, A. L., 28, 43 
Lowry, E. G., 206 


Manley, Charles E., Postmaster 
Macrea-Gibson, J. H., 252 
at Fairmont, W. Va., 275 
Mann, James R., Congressman, 
votes against anti-gag bill, 
171 
Massachusetts, limitations on 
power of removal in, 44 
Mayers, Lewis, 41, 42 
Merit System 
effect of on postal organiza- 
tion, 61 
extent) of, 11n ‘AJGa8., 32 
politicians’ attitude, 26 
effect of, on condition of 
civil workers, 26 
postal organizations favor ex- 
tension of, 72, 303 


UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Merit System—(Continued) 
postmasters and, 32 
third and fourth class, 300-302 
first and second class, 302-303 
supervisory officials and, 300 
eyer, Hugo R., 28 
‘Miller case,” 53 
Milwaukee, letter carriers’ meet- 
ing at, 68-69 
Morrison, Frank, secretary of A. 
Fy otk: 
departmental favoritism, ques- 
tion concerning, 177 
on resignation en bloc, 38 
strike levy, denies, 167 
Mutual Benefit Association, U.S. 
Railway Mail Service, 120 
iasecaye approves of, 157— 
58 


Myers, Senator 
on affiliation of government 
employees with organized 
labor, 16 
anti-affiliation amendments of, 
226, 227 


National Alliance of Postal Em- 
ployees, 297-298 
National Association of Civil 


Service Employees, 283- 
284 

National Association of Letter 
Carriers 


affiliation with A. F. of L., de- 
feated, 184-185 
affiliation with A. F. of L., 221, 
296 
break with Knights of Labor, 
70-72 
formed, 67 
present policy of, 295-296 
strength and success of, 296 
National Association of Manu- 
facturers, opposes anti-gag 
bill, 169 
National Association of Post 
Office Clerks 
break in ranks of, 87-88 
dissatisfaction in ranks of, 86 ff. 
formation of, 83 
Parkhurst elected president, 84 


INDEX 


National Association of Post 
Office Laborers, 247, 299 
National Association of Postmas- 
ters, 248, 302-303 
National Association of Railway 
Postal Clerks 
formed, 120 
name changed to Railway 
Mail Association, 121 
National Association of Super- 
visory Post Office Em- 
ployees, 248, 300 
National Civil Service Reform 
League, amendment of to 
anti-gag bill, 171 
National Council of Postal Asso- 
ciations, 288, 289 
National Council of Supervisory 
Officials of the Railway 
Mail Service, 248, 301 
National Federation of Federal 
Employees, 45, 48, 247-248, 
292 
National Federation of Post 
Office Clerks 
and “anti-gag” campaign, 173 
attitude towards amalgama- 
tion with rival associa- 
tion, 233-235 
attitude towards labor move- 
ment, 293 
Department’s attitude towards, 
109-110 
formation of, 108 
membership of, 295-296 
and one big postal union, 184, 
230, 286-288 
policy of, 292-293 
significance of, 111 
National Federation of Postal 
Employees, 230, 287 
National Federation of Rural 
Letter Carriers, 243, 298 
National League of District Post- 
masters, 301-302 
National Rural Letter Carriers’ 
Association 
and Burleson, 201-202, 210-211 
and De Graw, 198 
and Hitchcock, 197-199 
organized, 103-104 
policy of, 298-299 


313 


National Rural Letter Carriers’ 
Association—(Continued) 
R. F. D. News and, 103-105, 
106, 198-199, 240, 241, 298 
Navy Yards, 12 
Nelson, Oscar F. 
elected president of Clerks’ 
Federation, 127 
on Hitchcock and Reclassifica- 
tion Act, 114 
removal of, 127, 176-177 
reveals conditions in Chicago 


P. O., 125-127 

New, Harry S., Postmaster Gen- 
eral, 268 

New York 


Branch No. 187, 88-91 

city charter on public em- 
ployee rights, 438 

There C. W., Postmaster at, 


employees’ joint publicity 
committee at, 204 

hours of labor at, 60 

Knights of Labor carriers at, 
65-67, 70-72 

ee of Labor clerks at, 86 
8 


Merriam Association at, 62-63 

pay of P. O. clerks at, 61 

Pearson, H. G., 65, 67, 82, 85 

Promotion Syndicate, 89 

state right of appeal law, 43 
Northrup, M. H., 60 


O’Donoghue, M. F., 282 
Officials 
associations of, 248, 300-302, 
304 


character of authority over 
subordinates, 22-24 

control by over organizations, 
27, 87, 88, 141-143, 157, 161, 
176, 237, 296-297 

cooperation of with organized 
rank and file, 204, 300, 304 

French employees’ position re- 
garding authority of, 22- 
23 

membership of in employee 
organizations, 87, 88, 91, 
141, 147 


314 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY, 


Officials—(Continued) 
position of permanent in ser- 
vice, 136-137, 140-141, 192, 
262, 268 
Omaha Petition, 146 
One-big-union, 45 
attempts to form in postal 
service, U. S., 286-287 
Australia, 291 
Canada, 291-292 
Germany, 291 
Great Britain, 290 
One cent postage, 304 
Open shop in government ser- 
vice, 51-53 
Overstreet, Jesse, Congressman 
attributes defeat to employees, 


273 
charges of concerning employee 
threats, 125, 273 
“Overtime-case,” 73 
Overtime, 60, 72-74, 178-179, 
192-193, 203, 263-265 


Postmaster James order, 60 
Parkhurst, Benjamin, 84, 87, 89 
Parsons, John N., 69, 70, 74 
Patterson, John H., 69 
Payroll of civil employees in 

United States, size of, 31 
Pearson, H. G., Postmaster at 


New York 
opposes carriers’ affiliation 
with Knights of Labor, 65, 
67 
opposes clerks’ organization, 
82, 85 
Pendleton Act (see Civil Service 
Act) 
Perkins, Norman, Supt. Tenth 


Division, R. M. S., 
Perlman, S., 64 
Petition (see right of petition) 
Plumb Plan, 51 
Police 
Boston strike, 14 
President Wilson on, 40 
strikes of, 14 
union membership forbidden, 
Huntington, W. Va., 39 
Washington, D. C., 39 


149 


Political action by public eme 
ployees 
in Australia, 29 
British dockyard employees, 28 
compared with other political 
action by other groups, 29 
danger of, 26 ff. 
Btn of grievances through, 


disadvantages of, 25, 33-34 
“Selfish,”?, 27 
Political activity by government 
employees 
for eight-hour law, by letter 
carriers, 66 
federal rules restricting, 41-43 
Mayers, Lewis, on, 42 
by Knights of Labor, 66-67: 
restrictions on in New York 
City Charter, 43 
restrictions on in other coun- 
tries, 41 
Political influence 
in American public service, 
32 ff. 
of city carriers, 271 
effect on attitude of legislators, 


26 
effect of Civil Service Act on, 
61 
effect on merit system, 32 
effect on pay schedules, 31 
effect of on personnel policy, 
268 
in postal services before merit 
system, 57-58 
of rural carriers, 104, 271 
use of by postal workers, 270- 
271 
Political Parties, attitude of on 
employee rights, 40-41 
“Politics” (see political influence) 
Popular conception of govern- 
ment employment, 30 
Post Office Clerk 
article defending Selph, 237 
attacks on labor movement, 
235 
attitude towards Federation, 
295 
title changed, 87 


INDEX 


Postal Record 
becomes official organ of car- 
riers, 69 
character of, 295 
strengthens carriers’ organiza- 
tion, 69, 182 
Victory, John F., and, 69 
Postal Service 
employee organizations and, 
303-304 
various functions of, 11-12 
Postman, The 
organ of Knights of Labor let- 
ter carriers, 71 
Postmasters 
first and second class, 248, 302- 
303 
third and fourth class, 248, 301- 
302 
National Association of, 302- 
303 
National League of District, 
301-302 
Powderly, Terence, V., 64, 67, 72 
Preus, Governor, 267 
Primary functions of government, 
13 
dependence of on basic indus- 
tries, 13 ff. 
Printing Office, U. S. Govern- 
ment, 13 
“Miller case,” 52 
open-shop conditions in, 52 
Promotions 
clerks and carriers to super- 
visory posts, 79-80 
delays concerning, 135 
political influence and, 32, 33, 
300 
“Promotion Syndicate,” 89 
Branch 187 and, 89, 91 
Bristow investigation, 91 
Protective Association, 
Clerks, 150, 158-159 
Public utilities 
movement to limit employee 
rights in, 14-15 
Publicity 
use of by postal organizations, 
270 


Postal 


315 


Purdy, Edward A., Postmaster, 
work of at Minneapolis, 
266, 267, 268 


Quackenbush, George H., case of, 
163-165 
Quigg, Lemuel Eli, Congressman, 
elected with employee sup- 
port, 272 
R. F. D. News 
helps form Rural Carriers As- 
sociation, 103-104, 182 
relation to Rural Carriers’ 
Association, 105-106, 198- 
199, 298-299 
R. M. S. Bugle, helps organize 
R. M. S. clerks, 120, 182 
Railway Mail Association 
adopts conservative erage 121 
affiliation of, with A. F. of L., 
232-233, 258 
change in tactics of, 215-216 
departmental domination of, 
141-143, 175-176, 297-298 
establishes service committee, 
259, 304 
ineffectiveness of protests of, 
130, 132 
insurance department organ- 
ized, 120 
insurgent movement, 1905-1907, 
121-122 
National Association of Rail- 
way Postal Clerks changes 
name to, 121 
old guard of “uses” 
ment, 163-166 
present progressive policy of, 


Depart- 


297-298, 304 

President Kidwell protests 
against conservative policy 
of, 121 


service agreements with De- 
partment, 258-260 

success of insurance depart- 
ment, 120, 182 

wins abt A aberaraA approval, 
15 

Railway mail pay 

basis of, changed from weight 
to space, 193-194 

R. M. A. and, 262, 304 


316 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Railway Mail Service 
casualties in, 120, 121, 128 
curtailment of, 195, 261 
discontent in, 127 ff., 194-197, 
215-217, 232-233, 258-263 
importance of, 118 
reorganization of, 194-195, 261 
working conditions intolerable, 
127-130 
Railway Post Office 
on affiliation vote of R. M. A., 
258 
charges concerning unrepresen- 
tative character of, 161 
compared with other organs, 
295 Web 
on progressive organization 
policy, 296-297 
Stephens’ speech, defense of, 
210 
Railway Postal Clerks, (see also 
Railway Mail Service and 
Railway Mail Association) 
high. standards expected of, 118 
Rates, postage,, 304 
Reed, James A., Senator 
amendment of to “anti-gag” 
bill, 171 
on employee attitude towards 
“anti-gag” bill, 174-175 
Referendum 
Carriers’ Association defeats 
affiliation with A. F. of L., 184- 
185 
approves affiliation, 231 
Clerks’ Federation on strike 
question, 278-279 
R. M. A. approves affiliation, 
232, 258 
Removal (see also Dismissals) 
Act of August 24, 1912, on, 172 
limitations on 
in Massachusetts, 44 
in New York, 44 
movement to limit power of, 
280, 285 
power of, 43-44 
Roosevelt rule permitting with- 
out notice, 113 
Taft rule requiring notice in 
case of, 170 


Resignation 
en bloc, Frank Morrison on, 
38 


legality of, 38-39 
threats of, 145, 203, 274, 277 
at Fairmont, W. Va., post 
office, 38 
limitations on right in Wash- 
ington police force, 39 
Restrictions on civil employees 
A. F. of L.» opposes, 47-48 
attitude of railway employees 
during federal control to- 
wards, 50 
on civil rights, 36, 40-41 
in general, 9, 10, 11 
on industrial activity, 11, 13— 
24, 35-44 
on political activity, 26, 41-43 
probable effect of increase in 
oe employment upon,. 
5 


Retirement 
act, 255, 284 
agitation, 280-284 
Association, U. S. Civil Ser- 
vice, 280-284 
contributory vs. civil pension, 
282-284 
Joint Conference on, 284 
new associations, 284 
Retirement Federation of Civil 
Service Employees, 284 
Right of petition of public em- 
ployees 
of federal employees to Con- 
gress, 36 
legal guarantee, 36 
Professor Ford, H. J., on, 23 
Stewart, Joseph, on, 22 
New York State Right of Ap- 
peal Law, 43 
Right to organize, federal legal 
guarantee of, 35 
Rogers, Frank T. 
dismissed for opposing Post- 
master’s uniform order, 92 
gets special favors, 177 
reinstated, 92 
Roosevelt, Theodore 
“gao order,” first, 97 
amended, 113 


INDEX 


Roosevelt, Theodore — (Contin- 
ued) 
order of on removals without 
notice, 113 
Roper, Daniel C. 
on dependence of government 
wages on standard in pri- 
vate employment, 47 
on employee organization, 213- 
214 


Rural carriers (see also National 
Rural Letter Carriers’ As- 
sociation) 

Bristow’s hostility toward or- 
ganization of, 106-107 
organize, 103-104 
political influence of, 104, 271 
working conditions of, 105 
Rural Delivery Record, 241, 
243 
Ryan, E. J., 176, 215-216, 232 
Salaries 
Act of 1907, 115 
Act of 1918, 202, 207 
Act of 1919, 205 
Act of 1920, 206-207 
average postal 1901, 96; 1917, 
202 


of clerks, no fixed basis, 58 
inadequacy of, 33-34 
increases opposed by Burleson 
and Koons, 202, 207 
inflexibility of in civil service, 
33-34 
Joint Commission on Postal, 
205-206 
of letter carriers, 59, 62 
railway mail clerks, 119, 135- 
136 
rural carriers, 105 
Scandal, rumors of in Carriers’ 
Association, 76-77 
Schaug, leader of Brotherhood 
movement of 1907, dis- 
missed, 122 
Schardt, J. T., 142, 174-175 
Seattle, clerks’ local at 
attacks “gag,” 122 
publishes Bundy Recorder, 
122-123 
Secret societies 
amendment to “anti-gag” bill 
regarding, 171 


317 


| Secret Societies—(Continued) 


Stewart’s order forbidding, 156- 
157, 159 
Selph, C., Postmaster at St. 
Louis, 237 
Service Committees, established 
by Railway Mail Associa- 
tion, 259, 260, 261, 304 
Service Relations (see also Wel- 
fare Councils and Welfare 
Division) 
Director of, 263 
Division of, 250-251 
National Council, 301 
Sioux City, Ia., clerks at threaten 
to resign in body, 203, 277 
Skilled craftsmen in government 
service 
attitude of towards state’s spe- 
cial claims, 46, 53 
distinction between and other 
pupie workers recognized, 
1 
and open-shop question, 51-53 
‘Slack” orders (see “Take up the 
slack” orders) 
Slocum, Harry E., 162 
Soldiers, compared with civil ser- 
vants, 16 ff. 
Sovereignty, 10 
conflict of labor affiliation with, 
15 
contract relation in public em- 
ployment and, 20-21 
effect of civil employee organi- 
zation on, 10 
relation of to basic industries, 
13-15 
Speed tests (also see Efficiency 
rating systems), 31, 208- 
209, 268 
“Spotter” system, 74-76 
Stambaugh, J. Cletus, 241 
“Stand in” (see also Depart- 
mental domination) 
policy of maintaining, 27, 74, 
76, 84, 102-103, 120-121, 
236-238, 292-293, 296-297 
Steel cars, (see also Harpoon), 
151, 154, 155 
Stephens, A. H., General Super- 
intendent of Railway Mail 
Service 


318 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Stephens, A. H., General Super- 
intendent of Railway Mail 
Service—( Continued) 

speech regarding “speed test” 
petition, 208-209 
on unions in postal service, 208 
Stewart, Joseph, Second Assist- 
ant Postmaster General 
on Department’s power over 
organizations, 157 
on executive responsibility and 
employee activity, 21-22 
invites employee complaints, 
134 
secret society order, 156-157 
on travel allowances, 136 

Stockton, Frank T., 52 

Stover, George H., on contrac- 
tual relation in public em- 
ployment, 20 


Strikes 
American Federation of Labor 
and, 48-49 


Brotherhood of Railway Postal 
Clerks and, 148 

Fairmont P. O., 274-277 

implied prohibitions against 
federal, 35, 36 

laws which might be invoked 
to prevent, 36-38 

legality of, 36-38 

Lloyd-La Follette act and, 36- 

38, 171-172 

not a serious issue in U. S., 24 

oath of office and, 36-37 

aoe strike in Canada, 23, 


postal strike in France, 17, 
125 


President Gompers’ 
concerning, 279 

prohibition against in Wash- 
neo D. C., police force, 
9 

public employees’ unions dis- 
approve of, 48 

referendum of Clerks’ Federa- 


warning 


tion concerning, 278-279, 
292 

reports concerning in R. M. &., 
166-167 


Strikes—-(Contenued) 
Republican Platform of 1920 
on, 40 
Secretary Flaherty on, in postal 
service, 278 
wehbe in Chicago P. O., 93, 
274 
talk concerning, 203, 277-278 
oe 143-145, 146, 154, 
274 
Sullivan, J. W., 93 


| Sunday closing of post offices, 


179, 192 

Supervisory officials (see also 
Officials) of Railway Mail 
Service, National Council 


of, 248, 301 

Taft, Wm. H. 

and administrative efficiency, 
138 

calls government employees 


privileged class, 30, 169 
favors contributory, retirement 
plan, 282 
fourth class postmasters placed 
under civil service by, 301 
“gag order” of, 138-139 
modified by, 170 
notice in cases of removal re- 
quired by, 170 
“Take up the slack,” orders, 139- 


141, 144, 145 
modified, 148-149 
Teachers 


American Federation of 
attitude towards strikes, 48 
pay of in 1919, 33 
unionization of forbidden in 
Chicago, 40 
Telegraph and Telephones 
movement to  denationalize 
abroad, 12 
dagen of to postal service, 
ye 


Telephones (see Telegraphs) 
Thornton, John L., 
dismissed, 145 
telegram of to Postmaster 
General, 145 
Townsend, Senator, 227 
Tracy-Pierre “strike,” 
274 


143-145, 


INDEX 


Travel allowance of 
postal clerks 
complaints regarding, 136 
Department’s attitude towards, 
136 


railway 


increased, 180 
Truman A. Merriman Associa- 
tion, 62-63 
Tworger, George, atempt of to 
at one big postal union, 
28 


Unapoc, derivation of name, 91 
(see United National Associa- 
tion of Post Office Clerks) 
Under-staffing of postal service, 
96, 195, 203, 263-264, 268 
Union membership of govern- 
ment employees 
Butler, N. M., on, 17-18 
courts on dismissals for, 39-40 
extent of in federal service, 45 
aye of in municipal services, 


Hitcheock and Cortelyou on, 
109-110 

inspectors and, 165-167 

Lloyd-La Follette act, concern- 
ing, 35 

postal authorities oppose, 
156 ff 


prohibited among fire-fighters, 
39-40 


prohibited among police, 39 
prohibited among school teach- 


ers, 40 
Senator La Follette on right of, 
167-168 
Senator Myers on, 17-18 
Union of Post Office Workers in 
Great Britain, 290 
Union Postal Clerk 
compared with other organs, 
295 
Harpoon merged with, 239 
policy towards Unapoc, 295 
prize offer to Koons, 225 
Unions, federal labor of A. F. 
of L. 
Chicago P. O. clerks, 93-95, 
108 


railway mail clerks, 150, 156, 


181-182 


319 


United Association of Post Office 
Clerks 
authorities oppose, 90 . 
formation of, 88 
Knights of Labor local at New 
York, 90 
struggle against National Asso- 
ciation, 90 
United Mine Workers, National 
Research Council of on 
state socialism, 50-51 
United National Association of 
Post Office Clerks 
anti-union activities of, 235- 
236 
applies for A. F. of L. charter, 
233 


asks A. F. of L. aid, 94 

Cedar Rapids convention of, 
107-108 

formed, 91 

membership of, 294-295 

negotiations of with Clerks’ 
Federation, 233-235 

opposes affiliation with A. F. 
of L., 94, 109, 235, 236, 292- 
293 

policy of, 292-293 

supports Postmaster Selph of 
St. Louis, 237 

unseats Chicago unionist dele- 
gates, 94 

wins Department’s favor, 236- 
238 


Vacation law, carriers’, activity of 
Truman H. Merriman As- 
sociation for, 62-63 

Van Dyke, Carl C. 

disciplined, 160 

elected to Congress, 161, 274 

leads R. M. A. progressive, 
146-147, 160-161, 181 

part of in Brotherhood move- 
ment, 146-147 

protests against R. M. A. 
policy, 22 

Victory, John F. 

editor of Postal Record, 69 

elected secretary of Carriers’ 
Association, 69 


320 UNIONISM IN A GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY 


Victory, John F.—(Continued) 
opposes national affiliation of 
carriers with Knights of 
Labor, 70 
Victoria, Australia 
disfranchisement of civil em- 
ployees, 29-30 
special civil service constituen- 


cies, 29-30 
Vienna, P. T. T. International 
at, 293 


Vilas, Wm. F., Postmaster Gen- 
eral, issues notice on ten- 
ure of office, 119 
Voting Power 
use of organized by employees, 
99, 271-274 


Walter, Urban A. 
arrest of, 152, 154 
and Brotherhood movement, 
181-182 
and Harpoon, 123-124, 127, 
130 
notices of censored, 152-154 
Wanamaker, John, Postmaster 
General, cooperates with 
Clerks’ Association, 84-85 
Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, 41 
Welfare Council (see also Ser- 
vice Relations Councils) 
accomplishments of, 251, 253 
constitution of, local, 249-250 
established, 247-248 
name changed, 250-251 
national, 247-249 


Welfare Division (see also Ser- 
vice Relations), 246 
director of investigates work- 
ing conditions, 246-247 
establishes employee councils, 
247 
name changed, 250-251 
Wells, H. M., 123 
Whalen, James A., 128 


“White collar” prejudice, 46 


White, Fred L., President, 216- 
218 
White, James E., 119 
Whitley councils, 252-253 
Wilson, President, 41, 42, 186, 
210, 225 
Wilson, Wm. L., Postmaster 
General 
order restricting legislative ac- 
tivities of employees, 85 
Windsor, H. H., owner of R. F. 
D. News, 105 
Wooden mail cars (see also Har- 
poon), 127-129 
Working conditions 
in post offices before merit sys- 
tem, 57 ff. 
of carriers, 59-60 
of clerks, 60-61 
“Wreck Gag,” 130-131 
Wrecks (see casualties) 
Work, Hubert, Postmaster Gen- 
eral, 32, 253, 268 





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JOINING IN PUBLIC DISCUSSION 
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